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Division 

Section 


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Fr, 


Cuchulain  and  the  Flaming  Wheel 

(Page  187) 


MYTHSS^  LEGENDS 
OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 


BY 


T.  W.  ROLLESTON 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  HIGH  DEEDS  OF  FINN"  "PARALLEL  PATHS: 
A  STUDY  IN  BIOLOGY  ETHICS  AND  ART"  "THE  TEACHING  OF 
EPICTETUS"  "A  LIFE  OF  LESSING  "  ETC;  CO-EDITOR  WITH  THE 
REV.  STOPFORD  A.  BROOKE   OF  "  A  TREASURY   OF   IRISH   POETRY" 


DEC  12  1911      i 


A 


WITH  SIXTY-FOUR  FULL-PAGE  ILLUSTRATIONS 


T 


NEW    YORK 

THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Printed  by 

BALLANTYNE  fif   COMPANY  LTD 

AT  THE  BALLANTYNE  PRESS 

Tavistock  Street   Covent  Garden 

London 


PREFACE 

THE  Past  may  be  forgotten,  but  it  never  dies. 
The  elements  which  in  the  most  remote  times 
have  entered  into  a  nation's  composition  endure 
through  all  its  history,  and  help  to  mould  that  history, 
and  to  stamp  the  character  and  genius  of  the  people. 

The  examination,  therefore,  of  these  elements,  and 
the  recognition,  as  far  as  possible,  of  the  part  they  have 
actually  contributed  to  the  warp  and  weft  of  a  nation's 
life,  must  be  a  matter  of  no  small  interest  and  im- 
portance to  those  who  realise  that  the  present  is  the 
child  of  the  past,  and  the  future  of  the  present  ;  who 
will  not  regard  themselves,  their  kinsfolk,  and  their 
fellow-citizens  as  mere  transitory  phantoms,  hurrying 
from  darkness  into  darkness,  but  who  know  that,  in 
them,  a  vast  historic  stream  of  national  life  is  passing 
from  its  distant  and  mysterious  origin  towards  a  future 
which  is  largely  conditioned  by  all  the  past  wanderings 
of  that  human  stream,  but  which  is  also,  in  no  small 
degree,  what  they,  by  their  courage,  their  patriotism, 
their  knowledge,  and  their  understanding,  choose  to 
make  it. 

The  part  played  by  the  Celtic  race  as  a  formative 
influence  in  the  history,  the  literature,  and  the  art  of 
the  people  inhabiting  the  British  Islands — a  people 
which  from  that  centre  has  spread  its  dominions  over 
so  vast  an  area  of  the  earth's  surface — has  been 
unduly  obscured  in  popular  thought.  For  this  the 
current  use  of  the  term  "  Anglo-Saxon  "  applied  to 
the  British  people  as  a  designation  of  race  is  largely 
responsible.  Historically  the  term  is  quite  misleading. 
There  is  nothing  to  justify  this  singling  out  of  two 
Low-German  tribes  when  we  wish  to  indicate  the  race- 
character  of  the  British  people.  The  use  of  it  leads  to 
such  absurdities  as  that  which  the  writer  noticed  not 


PREFACE 

long  ago,  when  the  proposed  elevation  by  the  Pope  of 
an  Irish  bishop  to  a  cardinalate  was  described  in  an 
English  newspaper  as  being  prompted  by  the  desire  of 
the  head  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  pay  a  compliment 
to  "  the  Anglo-Saxon  race." 

The  true  term  for  the  population  of  these  islands, 
and  for  the  typical  and  dominant  part  of  the  popula- 
tion of  North  America,  is  not  Anglo-Saxon,  but  Anglo- 
Celtic.  It  is  precisely  in  this  blend  of  Germanic  and 
Celtic  elements  that  the  British  people  are  unique — it 
is  precisely  this  blend  which  gives  to  this  people  the 
fire,  the  elan,  and  in  literature  and  art  the  sense  of 
style,  colour,  drama,  which  are  not  natural  growths  of 
Germanic  soil,  while  at  the  same  time  it  gives  the 
deliberateness  and  depth,  the  reverence  for  ancient  law 
and  custom,  and  the  passion  for  personal  freedom, 
which  are  more  or  less  strange  to  the  Romance  nations 
of  the  South  of  Europe.  May  they  never  become 
strange  to  the  British  Islands  !  Nor  is  the  Celtic  ele- 
ment in  these  islands  to  be  regarded  as  contributed 
wholly,  or  even  very  predominantly,  by  the  popula- 
tions of  the  so-called  "  Celtic  Fringe."  It  is  now  well 
known  to  ethnologists  that  the  Saxons  did  not  by  any 
means  exterminate  the  Celtic  or  Celticised  populations 
whom  they  found  in  possession  of  Great  Britain. 
Mr.  E.  W.  B.  Nicholson,  librarian  of  the  Bodleian, 
writes    in    his    important   work    "Keltic    Researches" 

O904):  ,     . 

"  Names  which  have  not  been  purposely  invented  to 

describe  race  must  never  be  taken  as  proof  of  race,  but 

only  as  proof  of  community  of  language,  or  community 

of  political  organisation.     We  call  a  man  who  speaks 

English,   lives    in    England,    and    bears   an   obviously 

English    name    (such    as    Freeman    or    Newton),    an 

Englishman.     Yet    from    the    statistics    of    'relative 


PREFACE 

there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that 
Lancashire,  West  Yorkshire,  Staffordshire,  Worcester- 
shire, Warwickshire,  Leicestershire,  Rutland,  Cam- 
bridgeshire, Wiltshire,  Somerset,  and  part  of  Sussex 
are  as  Keltic  as  Perthshire  and  North  Munster  ;  that 
Cheshire,  Shropshire,  Herefordshire,  Monmouthshire, 
Gloucestershire,  Devon,  Dorset,  Northamptonshire, 
Huntingdonshire,  and  Bedfordshire  are  more  so — and 
equal  to  North  Wales  and  Leinster  ;  while  Bucking- 
hamshire and  Hertfordshire  exceed  even  this  degree, 
and  are  on  a  level  with  South  Wales  and  Ulster."1 

It  is,  then,  for  an  Anglo-Celtic,  not  an  "Anglo- 
Saxon,"  people  that  this  account  of  the  early  history, 
the  religion,  and  the  mythical  and  romantic  literature 
of  the  Celtic  race  is  written.  It  is  hoped  that  that 
people  will  find  in  it  things  worthy  to  be  remembered 
as  contributions  to  the  general  stock  of  European 
culture,  but  worthy  above  all  to  be  borne  in  mind  by 
those  who  have  inherited  more  than  have  any  other 
living  people  of  the  blood,  the  instincts  and  the  genius 
of  the  Celt. 

1  In  reference  to  the  name  "  Freeman,"  Mr.  Nicholson  adds  : 
"  No  one  was  more  intensely  '  English  '  in  his  sympathies  than  the 
great  historian  of  that  name,  and  probably  no  one  would  have  more 
strenuously  resisted  the  suggestion  that  he  might  be  of  Welsh 
descent  ;  yet  I  have  met  his  close  physical  counterpart  in  a  Welsh 
farmer  (named  Evans)  living  within  a  few  minutes  of  Pwllheli." 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I.  The  Celts  in  Ancient  History  . 
II.  The  Religion  of  the  Celts 

III.  The  Irish  Invasion  Myths   . 

IV.  The  Early  Milesian  Kings. 

V.  Tales  of  the  Ultonian  Cycle    . 
VI.  Tales  of  the  Ossianic  Cycle 
VII.  The  Voyage  of  Maeldun 
VIII.  Myths  and  Tales  of  the  Cymry 
Genealogical  Tables 

Gods  of  the  House  of  Don 
Gods  of  the  House  of  Llyr 
Arthur  and  his  Kin 
Glossary  and  Index 


pagk 
17 

5i 
94 
146 
178 
252 
309 
332 

35o 
35i 
352 
421 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Cuchulain  and  the  Flaming  Wheel     ....         Frontispiece 

Facing  flage 

"  We  fear  no  man "                        22 

"  We  are  bound  for  Rome  " 26 

"  Immediately  another  stepped  over  him  as  he  lay  "  .         -38 

Vercingetorix  riding  round  the  Roman  Camp    ....  42 

"  Desolate  be  Tara  for  ever  and  ever" 48 

Prehistoric  Tumulus  at  New  Grange 54 

Stone  Alignments  at  Kermaris,  Carnac 58 

Modern  Stone-worship  at  Locronan,  Brittany   ....  66 

Entrance  to  Tumulus  at  New  Grange 70 

Human  Sacrifices  in  Gaul  ........  84 

"  Milk  and  corn  they  asked  in  exchange  for  their  children  "      .  86 

St.  Finnen  and  the  Pagan  Chief 96 

Tuan  watches  Nemed 100 

The  Two  Ambassadors 106 

Corpre  and  King  Bres 108 

"  Sawan  gave  the  cow's  halter  to  the  boy"         .         .         .         .110 

"The  Druidess  wafted  it  to  the  home  of  its  father,  Kian  "        .  112 

The  Boat  of  Mananan 114 

"  At  the  revels  of  the  fairy  folk  " 118 

"  There  by  the  lake  he  wrought  " 122 

Sinend  and  Connla's  Well 128 

The  coming  of  the  Sons  of  Miled 132 

The  Danaan  Folk  listen  to  the  Music  of  the  Swans  .         .        .  140 

Ethne  hears  Voices 144 

Macha  marking  out  the  circuit  of  the  City          ....  150 

"  The  first  tree  was  a  willow  " 154 

xiii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing  />age 

Midir  and  Etain l62 

"  On  the  floor  of  the  hut  his  bird-plumage  falls  from  him  "       .  166 

Conary  in  the  Toils  of  the  Fairy  Folk 170 

The  Curse  of  Macha J78 

The  Boy  Setanta  follows  King  Conor 182 

The  Hound  of  Cullan 184 

Cuchulain  asks  Arms  of  the  King 188 

"  Cathbad  gazed  upon  the  stars  and  he  was  much  troubled  "  .  196 

Queen  Meav  and  the  Druid 204 

"  Sleep  now,  Cuchulain,  by  the  grave  in  Lerga  "        .         .         .212 

"  Cuchulain  seized  Ferdia  as  he  fell  " 218 

"  The  head  still  went  on  crying  and  exhorting  "  .         .         .222 

Cuchulain  and  the  Fairy  Maidens 224 

Emer  hears  of  the  Tryst 228 

The  Death  of  Cuchulain 232 

Forbay  and  Queen  Maev 244 

King  Fergus  and  the  Wee  Man 248 

Finn  finds  the  Old  Men  in  the  Forest 256 

"  Finn  heard  the  notes  of  the  magic  harp  "         .         .         .  260 

"  I  am  Saba,  O  Finn  " 266 

Oisin  and  Niam 270 

"The  white  steed  had  vanished  from  their  eyes  like  a  wreath 

of  mist " 274 

"They  found  themselves  suddenly  entangled  in  strands  of  yarn"  276 

"  Patrick  bade  his  scribes  write  all  carefully  down  "          .         .  278 

"  They  chased  him  to  the  sea-shore  " 286 

"  The  Fianna  raised  a  pillar-stone  with  her  name  in  Ogham 

letters" 288 

Dermot  took  the  Horn  and  filled  it 294 

Dermot  and  Grania 298 

xiv 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing  page 

"  And  the  Fianna  troop  away,  leaving  her  to  her  sorrow"         .  302 

"  It  were  better  for  thee  to  avenge  the  man  who  was  burnt 

there" .         .  310 

"  Half  the  corn  of  your  country  is  ground  here"        .         .         .318 

"  On  the  fourth  day  she  came  out  to  them  "  320 

The  Offering  of  Diuran  the  Rhymer 330 

The  Penance  of  Rhiannon 362 

"  Evnissyen  laid  his  hand  on  the  bag  " 370 

"  I  will  not  let  it  go  " 376 

"The  wailing  and  lamenting  began  even  more   loudly   than 

before" 404 


CHAPTER  I :  THE  CELTS  IN  ANCIENT 
HISTORY 

Earliest  References 

IN  the  chronicles  of  the  classical  nations  for  about 
five  hundred  years  previous  to  the  Christian  era 
there  are  frequent  references  to  a  people  associated 
with  these  nations,  sometimes  in  peace,  sometimes  in 
war,  and  evidently  occupying  a  position  of  great 
strength  and  influence  in  the  Terra  Incognita  of  Mid- 
Europe.  This  people  is  called  by  the  Greeks  the 
Hyperboreans  or  Celts,  the  latter  term  being  first 
found  in  the  geographer  Hecataeus,  about  500  b.c.1 

Herodotus,  about  half  a  century  later,  speaks  of  the 
Celts  as  dwelling  "  beyond  the  pillars  of  Hercules  " — 
i.e.,  in  Spain — and  also  of  the  Danube  as  rising  in  their 
country. 

Aristotle  knew  that  they  dwelt  "beyond  Spain," 
that  they  had  captured  Rome,  and  that  they  set  great 
store  by  warlike  power.  References  other  than  geo- 
graphical are  occasionally  met  with  even  in  early 
writers.  Hellanicus  of  Lesbos,  an  historian  of  the 
fifth  century  b.c,  describes  the  Celts  as  practising  jus- 
tice and  righteousness.  Ephorus,  about  350  B.C.,  has 
three  lines  of  verse  about  the  Celts  in  which  they  are 
described  as  using  "  the  same  customs  as  the  Greeks  " — 
whatever  that  may  mean — and  being  on  the  friendliest 
terms  with  that  people,  who  established  guest  friend- 
ships among  them.  Plato,  however,  in  the  "Laws," 
classes  the  Celts  among  the  races  who  are  drunken  and 
combative,  and  much  barbarity  is  attributed  to  them 
on  the  occasion  of  their  irruption  into  Greece  and  the 

1  He  speaks  of  "  Nyrax,  a  Celtic  city,"  and  "  Massalia  [Marseilles], 
a  city  of  Liguria  in  the  land  of  the  Celts"  ("Fragment*  Hist. 
Gnec"). 

b  17 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

sacking  of  Delphi  in  the  year  273  B.C.  Their  attack 
on  Rome  and  the  sacking  of  that  city  by  them  about  a 
century  earlier  is  one  of  the  landmarks  of  ancient  history. 
The  history  of  this  people  during  the  time  when 
they  were  the  dominant  power  in  Mid-Europe  has  to 
be  divined  or  reconstructed  from  scattered  references, 
and  from  accounts  of  episodes  in  their  dealings  with 
Greece  and  Rome,  very  much  as  the  figure  of  a 
primaeval  monster  is  reconstructed  by  the  zoologist 
from  a  few  fossilised  bones.  No  chronicles  of  their 
own  have  come  down  to  us,  no  architectural  remains 
have  survived  ;  a  few  coins,  and  a  few  ornaments  and 
weapons  in  bronze  decorated  with  enamel  or  with  subtle 
and  beautiful  designs  in  chased  or  repousse  work — 
these,  and  the  names  which  often  cling  in  strangely 
altered  forms  to  the  places  where  they  dwelt,  from  the 
Euxine  to  the  British  Islands,  are  well-nigh  all  the 
visible  traces  which  this  once  mighty  power  has  left  us 
of  its  civilisation  and  dominion.  Yet  from  these,  and 
from  the  accounts  of  classical  writers,  much  can  be 
deduced  with  certainty,  and  much  more  can  be  con- 
jectured with  a  very  fair  measure  of  probability.  The 
great  Celtic  scholar  whose  loss  we  have  recently  had  to 
deplore,  M.  d'Arbois  de  Jubainville,  has,  on  the  avail- 
able data,  drawn  1  convincing  outline  of  Celtic  history 
for  the  period  prior  to  their  emergence  into  full  historical 
light  with  the  conquests  of  Caesar,1  and  it  is  this  outline 
of  which  the  main  features  are  reproduced  here. 

The  True  Celtic  Race 

To  begin  with,  we  must  dismiss  the  idea  that  Celtica 

was  ever  inhabited  by  a  single  pure  and  homogeneous 

race.     The  true  Celts,  if  we  accept  on  this  point  the 

carefully  studied  and  elaborately  argued  conclusion  of 

1  In  his  "  Premiers  Habitants  de  l'Europe,"  vol.  ii. 


THE  TRUE  CELTIC  RACE 

Dr.  T.  Rice  Holmes,1  supported  by  the  unanimous  voice 
of  antiquity,  were  a  tall,  fair  race,  warlike  and  masterful,2 
whose  place  of  origin  (as  far  as  we  can  trace  them)  was 
somewhere  about  the  sources  of  the  Danube,  and  who 
spread  their  dominion  both  by  conquest  and  by  peaceful 

1  "  Caesar's  Conquest  of  Gaul,"  pp.  251—327. 

2  The  ancients  were  not  very  close  observers  of  physical  charac- 
teristics. They  describe  the  Celts  in  almost  exactly  the  same  terms  as 
those  which  they  apply  to  the  Germanic  races.  Dr.  Rice  Holmes  is 
of  opinion  that  the  real  difference,  physically,  lay  in  the  fact  that 
the  fairness  of  the  Germans  was  blond,  and  that  of  the  Celts  red. 
In  an  interesting  passage  of  the  work  already  quoted  (p.  315)  he 
observes  that,  "  Making  every  allowance  for  the  admixture  of  other 
blood,  which  must  have  considerably  modified  the  type  of  the  original 
Celtic  or  Gallic  invaders  of  these  islands,  we  are  struck  by  the  fact 
that  among  all  our  Celtic-speaking  fellow  subjects  there  are  to  be 
found  numerous  specimens  of  a  type  which  also  exists  in  those  parts 
of  Brittany  which  were  colonised  by  British  invaders,  and  in  those 
parts  of  Gaul  in  which  the  Gallic  invaders  appear  to  have  settled 
most  thickly,  as  well  as  in  Northern  Italy,  where  the  Celtic  invaders 
were  once  dominant  ;  and  also  by  the  fact  that  this  type,  even  among 
the  more  blond  representatives  of  it,  is  strikingly  different,  to  the  casual  as 
well  as  to  the  scientific  observer,  Jrom  that  0/  the  purest  representatives  of 
the  ancient  Germans.  The  well-known  picture  of  Sir  David  Wilkie, 
1  Reading  of  the  Waterloo  Gazette,'  illustrates,  as  Daniel  Wilson 
remarked,  the  difference  between  the  two  types.  Put  a  Perthshire 
Highlander  side  by  side  with  a  Sussex  farmer.  Both  will  be  fair  ;  but 
the  red  hair  and  beard  of  the  Scot  will  be  in  marked  contrast  with 
the  fair  hair  of  the  Englishman,  and  their  features  will  differ  still 
more  markedly.  I  remember  seeing  two  gamekeepers  in  a  railway 
carriage  running  from  Inverness  to  Lairey.  They  were  tall,  athletic, 
fair  men,  evidently  belonging  to  the  Scandinavian  type,  which,  as 
Dr.  Beddoe  says,  is  so  common  in  the  extreme  north  of  Scotland  ; 
but  both  in  colouring  and  in  general  aspect  they  were  utterly 
different  from  the  tall,  fair  Highlanders  whom  I  had  seen  in  Perth- 
shire. There  was  not  a  trace  of  red  in  their  hair,  their  long  beards 
being  absolutely  yellow.  The  prevalence  of  red  among  the  Celtic- 
speaking  people  is,  it  seems  to  me,  a  most  striking  characteristic. 
Not  only  do  we  find  eleven  men  in  every  hundred  whose  hair  is 
absolutely  red,  but  underlying  the  blacks  and  the  dark  browns  the 
same  tint  is  to  be  discovered." 

19 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

infiltration  over    Mid-Europe,  Gaul,  Spain,  and    the 
British  Islands.     They  did  not  exterminate  the  original 
prehistoric    inhabitants    of  these    regions — palaeolithic 
and   neolithic  races,  dolmen-builders  and  workers  in 
bronze — but  they  imposed  on  them  their  language,  their 
arts,  and  their  traditions,  taking,  no  doubt,  a  good  deal 
from  them  in  return,  especially,  as  we  shall  see,  in  the 
important  matter  of  religion.     Among  these  races  the 
true  Celts  formed  an  aristocratic  and  ruling  caste.     In 
that  capacity  they  stood,  alike  in  Gaul,  in  Spain,   in 
Britain,   and   in    Ireland,  in  the    forefront    of  armed 
opposition  to  foreign  invasion.     They  bore  the  worst 
brunt   of  war,    of  confiscations,  and   of  banishment. 
They  never  lacked  valour,  but  they  were  not  strong 
enough  or  united  enough  to  prevail,  and  they  perished 
in  far  greater  proportion  than  the  earlier  populations 
whom   they    had   themselves   subjugated.      But   they 
disappeared  also  by  mingling  their  blood  with   these 
inhabitants,  whom  they  impregnated  with  many  of  their 
own  noble  and  virile  qualities.     Hence  it  comes  that 
the  characteristics  of  the   peoples  called  Celtic  in  the 
present  day,  and  who  carry  on  the  Celtic  tradition  and 
language,  are  in  some  respects  so  different  from  those 
of  the  Celts  of  classical  history  and  the  Celts  who  pro- 
duced the  literature  and  art  of  ancient  Ireland,  and  in 
others  so  strikingly  similar.     To  take  a  physical  charac- 
teristic alone,  the  more  Celtic  districts  of  the  British 
Islands  are  at  present  marked  by  darkness  of  com- 
plexion, hair,  &c.     They  are  not  very  dark,  but  they 
are   darker  than  the  rest  of  the  kingdom.1     But  the 

1  See  the  map  of  comparative  nigrescence  given  in  Ripley's  "  Races 
of  Europe,"  p.  318.  In  France,  however,  the  Bretons  are  not  a 
dark  race  relatively  to  the  rest  of  the  population.  They  are  com- 
posed partly  of  the  ancient  Gallic  peoples  and  partly  of  settlers  from 
Wales  who  were  driven  out  by  the  Saxon  invasion, 
zo 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  THE  CELTS 

true  Celts  were  certainly  fair.  Even  the  Irish  Celts  of 
the  twelfth  century  are  described  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
as  a  fair  race. 

Golden  Age  of  the  Celts 

But  we  are  anticipating,  and  must  return  to  the  period 
of  the  origins  of  Celtic  history.  As  astronomers  have 
discerned  the  existence  of  an  unknown  planet  by  the 
perturbations  which  it  has  caused  in  the  courses  of 
those  already  under  direct  observation,  so  we  can  dis- 
cern in  the  fifth  and  fourth  centuries  before  Christ 
the  presence  of  a  great  power  and  of  mighty  move- 
ments going  on  behind  a  veil  which  will  never  be 
lifted  now.  This  was  the  Golden  Age  of  Celtdom  in 
Continental  Europe.  During  this  period  the  Celts 
waged  three  great  and  successful  wars,  which  had 
no  little  influence  on  the  course  of  South  European 
history.  About  500  B.C.  they  conquered  Spain  from 
the  Carthaginians.  A  century  later  we  find  them 
engaged  in  the  conquest  of  Northern  Italy  from  the 
Etruscans.  They  settled  in  large  numbers  in  the 
territory  afterwards  known  as  Cisalpine  Gaul,  where 
many  names,  such  as  Mediolanum  (Milan),  Addua 
(Adda),  Viro-dunum  (Verduno),  and  perhaps  Cremona 
(creamh,  garlic),1  testify  still  to  their  occupation.  They 
left  a  greater  memorial  in  the  chief  of  Latin  poets, 
whose  name,  Vergil,  appears  to  bear  evidence  of  his 
Celtic   ancestry.2      Towards   the   end   of  the    fourth 

1  See  for  these  names  Holder's  "  Alt-celtischer  Sprachschatz." 
*  Vergil  might  possibly  mean  "  the  very-bright "  or  illustrious 
one,  a  natural  form  for  a  proper  name.  Ver  in  Gallic  names 
(Vercingetorix,  Vercassivellasimus,  &c.)  is  usually  an  intensive  prefix, 
like  the  modern  Irish  fior.  The  name  of  the  village  where  Vergil 
was  born,  Andes  (now  Pietola),  is  Celtic.  His  love  of  nature,  his 
mysticism,  and  his  strong  feeling  for  a  certain  decorative  quality 

21 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

century  they  overran  Pannonia,  conquering  the   Illy- 


nans. 


Alliances  with  the  Greeks 

All  these  wars  were  undertaken  in  alliance  with  the 
Greeks,  with  whom  the  Celts  were  at  this  period  on 
the  friendliest  terms.  By  the  war  with  the  Cartha- 
ginians the  monopoly  held  by  that  people  of  the  trade 
in  tin  with  Britain  and  in  silver  with  the  miners  of 
Spain  was  broken  down,  and  the  overland  route  across 
France  to  Britain,  for  the  sake  of  which  the  Phocaeans 
had  in  600  b.c.  created  the  port  of  Marseilles,  was 
definitely  secured  to  Greek  trade.  Greeks  and  Celts 
were  at  this  period  allied  against  Phoenicians  and 
Persians.  The  defeat  of  Hamilcar  by  Gelon  at 
Himera,  in  Sicily,  took  place  in  the  same  year  as  that 
of  Xerxes  at  Salamis.  The  Carthaginian  army  in  that 
expedition  was  made  up  of  mercenaries  from  half  a 
dozen  different  nations,  but  not  a  Celt  is  found  in  the 
Carthaginian  ranks,  and  Celtic  hostility  must  have 
counted  for  much  in  preventing  the  Carthaginians  from 
lending  help  to  the  Persians  for  the  overthrow  of 
their  common  enemy.  These  facts  show  that  Celtica 
played  no  small  part  in  preserving  the  Greek  type  of 
civilisation  from  being  overwhelmed  by  the  despotisms 
of  the  East,  and  thus  in  keeping  alive  in  Europe  the 
priceless  seed  of  freedom  and  humane  culture. 

Alexander  the  Great 

When  the  counter-movement  of  Hellas  against  the 
East  began  under  Alexander  the  Great  we  find  the 
Celts  again  appearing  as  a  factor  of  importance. 

in  language  and  rhythm  are  markedly  Celtic  qualities.     Tennyson's 
phrases  for  him,  "landscape-lover,  lord  of  language,"  are  suggestive 
in  this  connexion. 
29 


We  fear  no   man  " 


ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT 

In  the  fourth  century  Macedon  was  attacked  and 
almost    obliterated   by  Thracian   and   Illyrian   hordes. 
King  Amyntas  II.  was  defeated  and  driven  into  exile. 
His   son   Perdiccas   II.  was  killed  in   battle.     When 
Philip,  a  younger  brother  of  Perdiccas,  came  to  the 
obscure  and  tottering  throne  which  he  and   his   suc- 
cessors were  to  make  the  seat  of  a  great  empire  he 
was    powerfully   aided    in    making    head   against    the 
Illyrians  by  the  conquests  of  the  Celts  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Danube  and  the   Po.     The   alliance  was   con- 
tinued, and  rendered,  perhaps,  more  formal  in  the  days 
of  Alexander.     When  about  to  undertake  his  conquest 
of  Asia  (334  B.C.)  Alexander  first  made  a  compact  with 
the  Celts  "who  dwelt  by  the  Ionian  Gulf"  in  order 
to  secure  his  Greek  dominions  from  attack  during  his 
absence.     The  episode  is  related  by  Ptolemy  Soter  in 
his  history  of  the  wars  of  Alexander.1     It  has  a  vivid- 
ness which  stamps  it  as  a  bit  of  authentic  history,  and 
another  singular  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  narra- 
tive has  been  brought  to  light  by  de  Jubainville.     As 
the  Celtic  envoys,  who  are  described  as  men  of  haughty 
bearing   and   great    stature,    their   mission   concluded, 
were  drinking  with  the  king,  he  asked  them,  it  is  said, 
what    was    the    thing    they,    the    Celts,    most    feared. 
The    envoys   replied  :     "  We   fear   no   man  :  there   is 
but  one  thing  that  we  fear,  namely,  that  the  sky  should 
fall  on  us  ;    but  we  regard  nothing  so  much   as   the 
friendship  of  a  man  such  as  thou."     Alexander  bade 
them  farewell,  and,  turning  to   his   nobles,  whispered : 
"  What    a    vainglorious    people    are    these    Celts  ! " 
Yet  the  answer,  for  all  its  Celtic  bravura  and  flourish, 

1  Ptolemy,  a  friend,  and  probably,  indeed,  half-brother,  of 
Alexander,  was  doubtless  present  when  this  incident  took  place. 
His  work  has  not  survived,  but  is  quoted  by  Arrian  and  other 
historians. 

23 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

was  not  without  both  dignity  and  courtesy.  The 
reference  to  the  falling  of  the  sky  seems  to  give  a 
glimpse  of  some  primitive  belief  or  myth  of  which  it 
is  no  longer  possible  to  discover  the  meaning.1  The 
national  oath  by  which  the  Celts  bound  themselves 
to  the  observance  of  their  covenant  with  Alexander  is 
remarkable.  "  If  we  observe  not  this  engagement," 
they  said,  "  may  the  sky  fall  on  us  and  crush  us,  may 
the  earth  gape  and  swallow  us  up,  may  the  sea  burst 
out  and  overwhelm  us."  De  Jubainville  draws  atten- 
tion most  appositely  to  a  passage  from  the  "  Tain  Bo 
Cuailgne,"  in  the  Book  of  Leinster,2  where  the  Ulster 
heroes  declare  to  their  king,  who  wished  to  leave 
them  in  battle  in  order  to  meet  an  attack  in  another 
part  of  the  field  :  "  Heaven  is  above  us,  and  earth 
beneath  us,  and  the  sea  is  round  about  us.  Unless 
the  sky  shall  fall  with  its  showers  of  stars  on  the 
ground  where  we  are  camped,  or  unless  the  earth  shall 
be  rent  by  an  earthquake,  or  unless  the  waves  of  the 
blue  sea  come  over  the  forests  of  the  living  world,  we 
shall  not  give  ground." 3  This  survival  of  a  peculiar 
oath-formula  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  its 
reappearance,  after  being  first  heard  of  among  the 
Celts  of  Mid-Europe,  in  a  mythical  romance  of  Ire- 
land, is  certainly  most  curious,  and,  with  other  facts 
which  we  shall  note  hereafter,  speaks  strongly  for  the 
community  and  persistence  of  Celtic  culture.4 

1  One  is  reminded  of  the  folk-tale  about  Henny  Penny,  who  went 
to  tell  the  king  that  the  sky  was  falling. 

2  The  Book  of  Leinster  is  a  manuscript  of  the  twelfth  century. 
The  version  of  the  "T£in"  given  in  it  probably  dates  from  the 
eighth.     See  de  Jubainville,  "  Premiers  Habitants,"  ii.  316. 

3  Dr.  Douglas  Hyde  in  his  "  Literary  History  of  Ireland  "  (p.  7) 
gives  a  slightly  different  translation. 

4  It  is  also  a  testimony  to  the  close  accuracy  of  the  narrative  of 
Ptolemy. 

■4 


THE  SACK  OF  ROME 

The  Sack  of  Rome 

We  have  mentioned  two  of  the  great  wars  of  the 
Continental  Celts  ;  we  come  now  to  the  third,  that  with 
the  Etruscans,  which  ultimately  brought  them  into 
conflict  with  the  greatest  power  of  pagan  Europe,  and 
led  to  their  proudest  feat  of  arms,  the  sack  of  Rome. 
About  the  year  400  B.C.  the  Celtic  Empire  seems  to 
have  reached  the  height  of  its  power.  Under  a  king 
named  by  Livy  Ambicatus,  who  was  probably  the  head 
of  a  dominant  tribe  in  a  military  confederacy,  like  the 
German  Emperor  in  the  present  day,  the  Celts  seem  to 
have  been  welded  into  a  considerable  degree  of  political 
unity,  and  to  have  followed  a  consistent  policy.  At- 
tracted by  the  rich  land  of  Northern  Italy,  they  poured 
down  through  the  passes  of  the  Alps,  and  after  hard 
fighting  with  the  Etruscan  inhabitants  they  maintained 
their  ground  there.  At  this  time  the  Romans  were 
pressing  on  the  Etruscans  from  below,  and  Roman  and 
Celt  were  acting  in  definite  concert  and  alliance.  But 
the  Romans,  despising  perhaps  the  Northern  barbarian 
warriors,  had  the  rashness  to  play  them  false  at  the 
siege  of  Clusium,  391  B.C.,  a  place  which  the  Romans 
regarded  as  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  Latium  against  the 
North.  The  Celts  recognised  Romans  who  had  come 
to  them  in  the  sacred  character  of  ambassadors  fighting 
in  the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  The  events  which  followed 
are,  as  they  have  come  down  to  us,  much  mingled 
with  legend,  but  there  are  certain  touches  of  dramatic 
vividness  in  which  the  true  character  of  the  Celts 
appears  distinctly  recognisable.  They  applied,  we  are 
told,  to  Rome  for  satisfaction  for  the  treachery  of  the 
envoys,  who  were  three  sons  of  Fabius  Ambustus,  the 
chief  pontiff.  The  Romans  refused  to  listen  to  the 
claim,  and  elected  the  Fabii  military  tribunes  for  the 

25 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

ensuing  year.  Then  the  Celts  abandoned  the  siege  of 
Clusium  and  marched  straight  on  Rome.  The  army- 
showed  perfect  discipline.  There  was  no  indiscriminate 
plundering  and  devastation,  no  city  or  fortress  was 
assailed.  "  We  are  bound  for  Rome  "  was  their  cry  to 
the  guards  upon  the  walls  of  the  provincial  towns,  who 
watched  the  host  in  wonder  and  fear  as  it  rolled  steadily 
to  the  south.  At  last  they  reached  the  river  Allia,  a 
few  miles  from  Rome,  where  the  whole  available  force 
of  the  city  was  ranged  to  meet  them.  The  battle  took 
place  on  July  18,  390,  that  ill-omened  dies  Alliensh 
which  long  perpetuated  in  the  Roman  calendar  the 
memory  of  the  deepest  shame  the  republic  had  ever 
known.  The  Celts  turned  the  flank  of  the  Roman 
army,  and  annihilated  it  in  one  tremendous  charge. 
Three  days  later  they  were  in  Rome,  and  for  nearly  a 
year  they  remained  masters  of  the  city,  or  of  its  ruins, 
till  a  great  fine  had  been  exacted  and  full  vengeance 
taken  for  the  perfidy  at  Clusium.  For  nearly  a  cen- 
tury after  the  treaty  thus  concluded  there  was  peace 
between  the  Celts  and  the  Romans,  and  the  breaking 
of  that  peace  when  certain  Celtic  tribes  allied  them- 
selves with  their  old  enemy,  the  Etruscans,  in  the  third 
Samnite  war  was  coincident  with  the  breaking  up  of 
the  Celtic  Empire.1 

Two  questions  must  now  be  considered  before 
we  can  leave  the  historical  part  of  this  Introduction. 
First  of  all,  what  are  the  evidences  for  the  wide- 
spread diffusion  of  Celtic  power  in  Mid-Europe  during 
this  period  ?  Secondly,  where  were  the  Germanic 
peoples,  and  what  was  their  position  in  regard  to  the 
Celts  ? 

1  Roman  history  tells  of  various  conflicts  with  the  Celts  during 
this  period,  but  de  Jubainville  has  shown  that  these  narratives  are 
almost  entirely  mythical.     See  "Premiers  Habitants,"  ii.  318-323. 
26 


We  are  bound  for  Rome 


CELTIC  PLACE-NAMES  IN  EUROPE 

Celtic  Place-names  in  Europe 

To  answer  these  questions  fully  would  take  us  (for 
the  purposes  of  this  volume)  too  deeply  into  philo- 
logical discussions,  which  only  the  Celtic  scholar  can 
fully  appreciate.  The  evidence  will  be  found  fully  set 
forth  in  de  Jubainville's  work,  already  frequently  re- 
ferred to.  The  study  of  European  place-names  forms 
the  basis  of  the  argument.  Take  the  Celtic  name  Novio- 
magus,  composed  of  two  Celtic  words,  the  adjective 
meaning  new,  and  magos  (Irish  magh)  a  field  or  plain.1 
There  were  nine  places  of  this  name  known  in  antiquity. 
Six  were  in  France,  among  them  the  places  now  called 
Noyon,  in  Oise,  Nijon,  in  Vosges,  Nyons,  in  Dr6me. 
Three  outside  of  France  were  Nimegue,  in  Belgium, 
Neumagen,  in  the  Rhineland,  and  one  at  Speyer,  in  the 
Palatinate. 

The  word  dunum,  so  often  traceable  in  Gaelic  place- 
names  in  the  present  day  (Dundalk,  Dunrobin,  &c), 
and  meaning  fortress  or  castle,  is  another  typically 
Celtic  element  in  European  place-names.  It  occurred 
very  frequently  in  France — e.g.,  Lug-dunum  (Lyons), 
Viro-dunum  (Verdun).  It  is  also  found  in  Switzerland 
— e.g.,  Minno-dunum  (Moudon),  Eburo-dunum  (Yver- 
don) — and  in  the  Netherlands,  where  the  famous  city 
of  Ley  den  goes  back  to  a  Celtic  Lug-dunum.  In  Great 
Britain  the  Celtic  term  was  often  changed  by  simple 
translation  into  castra ;  thus  Camulo-dunum  became 
Colchester,  Brano-dunum  Brancaster.  In  Spain  and 
Portugal  eight  names  terminating  in  dunum  are  men- 
tioned by  classical  writers.  In  Germany  the  modern 
names  Kempton,  Karnberg,  Liegnitz,  go  back  re- 
spectively   to    the   Celtic   forms    Cambo-dunum,    Carro- 

1  E.g.,  Moymell  {magh-menla),  the  Plain  of  Honey,  a  Gaelic  name 
or  Fairyland,  and  many  place-names. 

27 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

aunum,  Lugi-dunum,  and  we  find  a  Singi-dunum,  now 
Belgrade,  in  Servia,  a  Novi-dunumy  now  Isaktscha,  in 
Roumania,  a  Carro-dunum  in  South  Russia,  near  the 
Dniester,  and  another  in  Croatia,  now  Pitsmeza.  Sego- 
dunum,  now  Rodez,  in  France,  turns  up  also  in  Bavaria 
(Wurzburg),  and  in  England  (Sege-dunum,  now  Wall- 
send,  in  Northumberland),  and  the  first  term,  sego,  is 
traceable  in  Segorbe  (Sego-briga),  in  Spain.  Briga  is  a 
Celtic  word,  the  origin  of  the  German  burg,  and  equiva- 
lent in  meaning  to  dunum. 

One  more  example  :  the  word  magos,  a  plain,  which 
is  very  frequent  as  an  element  of  Irish  place-names,  is 
found  abundantly  in  France,  and  outside  of  France,  in 
countries  no  longer  Celtic,  it  appears  in  Switzerland 
(Uro-magusy  now  Promasens),  in  the  Rhineland  (Broco- 
magusy  Brumath),  in  the  Netherlands,  as  already  noted 
(Nim&gue),  in  Lombardy  several  times,  and  in  Austria. 

The  examples  given  are  by  no  means  exhaustive,  but 
they  serve  to  indicate  the  wide  diffusion  of  the  Celts  in 
Europe  and  their  identity  of  language  over  their  vast 
territory.1 

Early  Celtic  Art 

The  relics  of  ancient  Celtic  art-work  tell  the  same 
story.  In  the  year  1846  a  great  pre-Roman  necropolis 
was  discovered  at  Hallstatt,  near  Salzburg,  in  Austria. 
It  contains  relics  believed  by  Dr.  Arthur  Evans  to  date 
from  about  750  to  400  B.C.  These  relics  betoken  in 
some  cases  a  high  standard  of  civilisation  and  con- 
siderable commerce.  Amber  from  the  Baltic  is  there, 
Phoenician  glass,  and  gold-leaf  of  Oriental  workmanship. 
Iron  swords  are  found  whose  hilts  and  sheaths  are 
richly  decorated  with  gold,  ivory,  and  amber. 

1  For    these    and    many   other    examples   see    de    Jubainville's 
"Premiers  Habitants,"  ii.  255  sqq. 
28 


EARLY  CELTIC  ART 

The  Celtic  culture  illustrated  by  the  remains  at 
Hallstatt  developed  later  into  what  is  called  the  La  Tene 
culture.  La  Tene  was  a  settlement  at  the  north-eastern 
end  of  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel,  and  many  objects  of  great 
interest  have  been  found  there  since  the  site  was  first 
explored  in  1858.  These  antiquities  represent,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Evans,  the  culminating  period  of  Gaulish 
civilisation,  and  date  from  round  about  the  third  century 
B.C.  The  type  of  art  here  found  must  be  judged  in  the 
light  of  an  observation  recently  made  by  Mr.  Romilly 
Allen  in  his  "  Celtic  Art "  (p.  13)  : 

"  The  great  difficulty  in  understanding  the  evolution 
of  Celtic  art  lies  in  the  fact  that  although  the  Celts 
never  seem  to  have  invented  any  new  ideas,  they  pro- 
fessed [sic  ;  ?  possessed]  an  extraordinary  aptitude  for 
picking  up  ideas  from  the  different  peoples  with  whom 
war  or  commerce  brought  them  into  contact.  And 
once  the  Celt  had  borrowed  an  idea  from  his  neighbours 
he  was  able  to  give  it  such  a  strong  Celtic  tinge  that  it 
soon  became  something  so  different  from  what  it  was 
originally  as  to  be  almost  unrecognisable." 

Now   what   the    Celt  borrowed  in    the   art-culture 
which  on  the  Continent  culminated    in  the  La  Tene 
relics    were  certain  originally  naturalistic  motives    for 
Greek  ornaments,  notably  the  palmette  and  the  meander 
motives.     But  it  was  characteristic  of  the  Celt  that  he 
avoided  in  his  art  all  imitation  of,  or  even  approxima- 
tion to,  the  natural  forms  of  the  plant  and  animal  world. 
He  reduced  everything  to  pure  decoration.     What  he 
enjoyed    in    decoration    was    the    alternation    of  long 
sweeping  curves  and  undulations  with  the  concentrated 
energy  of  close-set  spirals  or  bosses,  and  with  these 
simple   elements   and   with   the   suggestion  of  a  few 
motives  derived  from  Greek  art  he  elaborated  a  most 

29 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

beautiful,  subtle,  and  varied  system  of  decoration,  applied 
to  weapons,  ornaments,  and  to  toilet  and  household 
appliances  of  all  kinds,  in  gold,  bronze,  wood,  and  stone, 
and  possibly,  if  we  had  the  means  of  judging,  to  textile 
fabrics  also.  One  beautiful  feature  in  the  decoration  of 
metal-work  seems  to  have  entirely  originated  in  Celtica. 
Enamelling  was  unknown  to  the  classical  nations  till 
they  learned  from  the  Celts.  So  late  as  the  third 
century  a.d.  it  was  still  strange  to  the  classical  world, 
as  we  learn  from  the  reference  of  Philostratus  : 

"  They  say  that  the  barbarians  who  live  in  the  ocean 
[Britons]  pour  these  colours  upon  heated  brass,  and 
that  they  adhere,  become  hard  as  stone,  and  preserve 
the  designs  that  are  made  upon  them." 

Dr.  J.  Anderson  writes  in  the  "  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland  "  : 

"  The  Gauls  as  well  as  the  Britons — of  the  same 
Celtic  stock  —  practised  enamel-working  before  the 
Roman  conquest.  The  enamel  workshops  of  Bibracte, 
with  their  furnaces,  crucibles,  moulds,  polishing-stones, 
and  with  the  crude  enamels  in  their  various  stages  of 
preparation,  have  been  recently  excavated  from  the 
ruins  of  the  city  destroyed  by  Caesar  and  his  legions. 
But  the  Bibracte  enamels  are  the  work  of  mere  dabblers 
in  the  art,  compared  with  the  British  examples.  The 
home  of  the  art  was  Britain,  and  the  style  of  the  pattern, 
as  well  as  the  association  in  which  the  objects  decorated 
with  it  were  found,  demonstrated  with  certainty  that  it 
had  reached  its  highest  stage  of  indigenous  develop- 
ment before  it  came  in  contact  with  the  Roman  culture."  x 

The  National  Museum  in  Dublin  contains  many 
superb  examples  of  Irish  decorative  art  in  gold,  bronze, 

x  Q«Qt?4  by  Mr.  Romilly  Allen  in  "Celtic  Art,"  p.  136. 
30 


CELTS  AND  GERMANS 

and  enamels,  and  the  "strong  Celtic  tinge  "  of  which 
Mr.  Romilly  Allen  speaks  is  as  clearly  observable  there 
as  in  the  relics  of  Hallstatt  or  La  Tene. 

Everything,  then,  speaks  of  a  community  of  culture, 
an  identity  of  race-character,  existing  over  the  vast 
territory  known  to  the  ancient  world  as  "  Celtica." 

Celts  and  Germans 

But,  as  we  have  said  before,  this  territory  was  by  no 
means  inhabited  by  the  Celt  alone.  In  particular  we  have 
to  ask,  who  and  where  were  the  Germans,  the  Teuto- 
Gothic  tribes,  who  eventually  took  the  place  of  the  Celts 
as  the  great  Northern  menace  to  classical  civilisation  ? 

They  are  mentioned  by  Pytheas,  the  eminent  Greek 
traveller  and  geographer,  about  300  B.C.,  but  they  play 
no  part  in  history  till,  under  the  name  of  Cimbri  and 
Teutones,  they  descended  on  Italy  to  be  vanquished  by 
Marius  at  the  close  of  the  second  century.  The  ancient 
Greek  geographers  prior  to  Pytheas  know  nothing  of 
them,  and  assign  all  the  territories  now  known  as 
Germanic  to  various  Celtic  tribes. 

The  explanation  given  by  de  Jubainville,  and  based 
by  him  on  various  philological  considerations,  is  that 
the  Germans  were  a  subject  people,  comparable  to  those 
"  un-free  tribes  "  who  existed  in  Gaul  and  in  ancient 
Ireland.  They  lived  under  the  Celtic  dominion,  and 
had  no  independent  political  existence.  De  Jubainville 
finds  that  all  the  words  connected  with  law  and 
government  and  war  which  are  common  both  to  the 
Celtic  and  Teutonic  languages  were  borrowed  by  the 
latter  from  the  former.  Chief  among  them  are  the 
words  represented  by  the  modern  German  Reich, 
empire,  Amt,  office,  and  the  Gothic  reiks,  a  king,  all 
of  which  are  of  unquestioned  Celtic  origin.  De 
Jubainville  also  numbers  among  loan  words  from  Celtic 

3i 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  words  Bann,  an  order  ;  Frei,  free ;  Geisel,  a  hos- 
tage ;  Erbe,  an  inheritance  ;  Werth,  value ;  JVeih, 
sacred  ;  Magus,  a  slave  (Gothic)  ;  Wini,  a  wife  (Old 
High  German) ;  Skalks,  Schalk,  a  slave  (Gothic)  ; 
Hathu,  battle  (Old  German)  ;  Helith,  Held,  a  hero, 
from  the  same  root  as  the  word  Celt ;  Heer,  an  army 
(Celtic  choris)  ;  Sieg,  victory  ;  Beute,  booty  ;  Burg,  a 
castle  ;  and  many  others. 

The  etymological  history  of  some  of  these  words  is 
interesting.  Amt,  for  instance,  that  word  of  so  much 
significance  in  modern  German  administration,  goes  back 
to  an  ancient  Celtic  ambhactos,  which  is  compounded  of 
the  words  ambi,  about,  and  ados,  a  past  participle  derived 
from  the  Celtic  root  AG,  meaning  to  act.  Now  ambi 
descends  from  the  primitive  Indo-European  mbhi,  where 
the  initial  m  is  a  kind  of  vowel,  afterwards  represented 
in  Sanscrit  by  a.  This  m  vowel  became  n  in  those 
Germanic  words  which  derive  directly  from  the  primi- 
tive Indo-European  tongue.  But  the  word  which  is 
now  represented  by  amt  appears  in  its  earliest  Germanic 
form  as  ambaht,  thus  making  plain  its  descent  from  the 
Celtic  ambhactos. 

Again,  the  word  frei  is  found  in  its  earliest  Germanic 
form  zsfrijo-s,  which  comes  from  the  primitive  Indo- 
European  prijo-s.  The  word  here  does  not,  however, 
mean  free  ;  it  means  beloved  (Sanscrit  priya-s).  In 
the  Celtic  language,  however,  we  find  prijos  dropping 
its  initial  p — a  difficulty  in  pronouncing  this  letter  was 
a  marked  feature  in  ancient  Celtic  ;  it  changed/,  accord- 
ing to  a  regular  rule,  into  dd,  and  appears  in  modern 
Welsh  as  rhydd  =  free.  The  Indo-European  meaning 
persists  in  the  Germanic  languages  in  the  name  of  the 
love-goddess,  Freia,  and  in  the  word  Freund,  friend, 
Friede,  peace.  The  sense  borne  by  the  word  in  the 
sphere  of  civil  right  is  traceable  to  a  Celtic  origin, 
3* 


CELTS  AND  GERMANS 
and  in   that   sense  appears  to  have  been  a  loan  from 
Celtic. 

The  German  Beute,  booty,  plunder,  has  had  an 
instructive  history.  There  was  a  Gaulish  word  bodi 
found  in  compounds  such  as  the  place-name  Segobo- 
dium  (Seveux),  and  various  personal  and  tribal  names, 
including  Boudicca,  better  known  to  us  as  the  "  British 
warrior  queen,"  Boadicea.  This  word  meant  anciently 
"victory."  But  the  fruits  of  victory  are  spoil,  and 
in  this  material  sense  the  word  was  adopted  in  German, 
in  French  (butin),  in  Norse  (byte),  and  the  Welsh 
(budd).  On  the  other  hand,  the  word  preserved  its 
elevated  significance  in  Irish.  In  the  Irish  translation 
of  Chronicles  xxix.  n,  where  the  Vulgate  original  has 
"  Tua  est,  Domine,  magnificentia  et  potentia  et  gloria  et 
victoria,"  the  word  victoria  is  rendered  by  the  Irish  buaidh, 
and,  as  de  Jubainville  remarks,  "ce  n'est  pas  de  butin 
qu'il  s'agit."  He  goes  on  to  say:  "  Buaidh  has  pre- 
served in  Irish,  thanks  to  a  vigorous  and  persistent 
literary  culture,  the  high  meaning  which  it  bore  in  the 
tongue  of  the  Gaulish  aristocracy.  The  material  sense 
of  the  word  was  alone  perceived  by  the  lower  classes  of 
the  population,  and  it  is  the  tradition  of  this  lower 
class  which  has  been  preserved  in  the  German,  the 
French,  and  the  Cymric  languages."1 

Two  things,  however,  the  Celts  either  could  not  or 
would  not  impose  on  the  subjugated  German  tribes — 
their  language  and  their  religion.  In  these  two  great 
factors  of  race-unity  and  pride  lay  the  seeds  of  the 
ultimate  German  uprising  and  overthrow  of  the  Celtic 
supremacy.  The  names  of  the  German  are  different 
from  those  of  the  Celtic  deities,  their  funeral  customs, 
with  which  are  associated  the  deepest  religious  con- 
ceptions of  primitive  races,  are  different.  The  Celts,  or 
1  "Premiers  Habitants,"  ii.  355,  356. 

c  33 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

at  least  the  dominant  section  of  them,  buried  their 
dead,  regarding  the  use  of  fire  as  a  humiliation,  to  be 
inflicted  on  criminals,  or  upon  slaves  or  prisoners  in 
those  terrible  human  sacrifices  which  are  the  greatest 
stain  on  their  native  culture.  The  Germans,  on  the 
other  hand,  burned  their  illustrious  dead  on  pyres,  like 
the  early  Greeks — if  a  pyre  could  not  be  afforded  for 
the  whole  body,  the  noblest  parts,  such  as  the  head 
and  arms,  were  burned  and  the  rest  buried. 

Downfall  of  the  Celtic  Empire 

What  exactly  took  place  at  the  time  of  the  German 
revolt  we  shall  never  know  ;  certain  it  is,  however, 
that  from  about  the  year  300  B.C.  onward  the  Celts 
appear  to  have  lost  whatever  political  cohesion  and 
common  purpose  they  had  possessed.  Rent  asunder, 
as  it  were,  by  the  upthrust  of  some  mighty  subterranean 
force,  their  tribes  rolled  down  like  lava-streams  to  the 
south,  east,  and  west  of  their  original  home.  Some 
found  their  way  into  Northern  Greece,  where  they 
committed  the  outrage  which  so  scandalised  their 
former  friends  and  allies  in  the  sack  of  the  shrine 
of  Delphi  (273  B.C.).  Others  renewed,  with  worse 
fortune,  the  old  struggle  with  Rome,  and  perished 
in  vast  numbers  at  Sentinum  (295  B.C.)  and  Lake 
Vadimo  (283  b.c).  One  detachment  penetrated  into 
Asia  Minor,  and  founded  the  Celtic  State  of  Galatia, 
where,  as  St.  Jerome  attests,  a  Celtic  dialect  was  still 
spoken  in  the  fourth  century  a.d.  Others  enlisted  as 
mercenary  troops  with  Carthage.  A  tumultuous  war  of 
Celts  against  scattered  German  tribes,  or  against  other 
Celts  who  represented  earlier  waves  of  emigration  and 
conquest,  went  on  all  over  Mid-Europe,  Gaul,  and 
Britain.  When  this  settled  down  Gaul  and  the  British 
Islands  remained  practically  the  sole  relics  of  the  Celtic 
34 


UNIQUE  POSITION  OF  IRELAND 

empire,  the  only  countries  still  under  Celtic  law  and 
leadership.  By  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era 
Gaul  and  Britain  had  fallen  under  the  yoke  of  Rome, 
and  their  complete  Romanisation  was  only  a  question 
of  time. 

Unique  Historical  Position  of  Ireland 

Ireland  alone  was  never  even  visited,  much  less 
subjugated,  by  the  Roman  legionaries,  and  maintained 
its  independence  against  all  comers  nominally  until 
the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  but  for  all  practical 
purposes  a  good  three  hundred  years  longer. 

Ireland  has  therefore  this  unique  feature  of  interest, 
that  it  carried  an  indigenous  Celtic  civilisation,  Celtic 
institutions,  art,  and  literature,  and  the  oldest  surviv- 
ing form  of  the  Celtic  language,1  right  across  the  chasm 
which  separates  the  antique  from  the   modern  world, 

1  Irish  is  probably  an  older  form  of  Celtic  speech  than  Welsh. 
This  is  shown  by  many  philological  peculiarities  of  the  Irish  language, 
of  which  one  of  the  most  interesting  may  here  be  briefly  referred  to. 
The  Goidelic  or  Gaelic  Celts,  who,  according  to  the  usual  theory, 
first  colonised  the  British  Islands,  and  who  were  forced  by  successive 
waves  of  invasion  by  their  Continental  kindred  to  the  extreme  west, 
had  a  peculiar  dislike  to  the  pronunciation  of  the  letter  p.  Thus 
the  Indo-European  particle  pare,  represented  by  Greek  Trapa,  beside 
or  close  to,  becomes  in  early  Celtic  are,  as  in  the  name  Are-morici 
(the  Armoricans,  those  who  dwell  ar  muir,  by  the  sea)  ;  Are-dunum 
(Ardin,  in  France)  ;  Are-cluta,  the  place  beside  the  Clota  (Clyde), now 
Dumbarton  ;  Are- taunon,  in  Germany  (near  the  Taunus  Mountains), 
&c.  When  this  letter  was  not  simply  dropped  it  was  usually  changed 
into  c  (ky  g).  But  about  the  sixth  century  b.c.  a  remarkable  change 
passed  over  the  language  of  the  Continental  Celts.  They  gained  in 
some  unexplained  way  the  faculty  for  pronouncing  p,  and  even 
substituted  it  for  existing  c  sounds  ;  thus  the  original  Cretanis  be- 
came Pretanis,  Britain,  the  numeral  qetuares  (four)  became  petuares, 
and  so  forth.  Celtic  place-names  in  Spain  show  that  this  change 
must  have  taken  place  before  the  Celtic  conquest  of  that  country, 
500  B.C.     Now  a  comparison  of  many  Irish  and  Welsh  words  shows 

35 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  pagan  from  the  Christian  world,  and  on  into  the  full 
light  of  modern  history  and  observation. 

The  Celtic  Character 

The  moral  no  less  than  the  physical  characteristics 
attributed  by  classical  writers  to  the  Celtic  peoples 
show  a  remarkable  distinctness  and  consistency.  Much 
of  what  is  said  about  them  might,  as  we  should  expect, 
be  said  of  any  primitive  and  unlettered  people,  but  there 
remains  so  much  to  differentiate  them  among  the  races 
of  mankind  that  if  these  ancient  references  to  the  Celts 
could  be  read  aloud,  without  mentioning  the  name  of  the 
race  to  whom  they  referred,  to  any  person  acquainted 
with  it  through  modern  history  alone,  he  would,  I  think, 
without  hesitation,  name  the  Celtic  peoples  as  the  sub- 
ject of  the  description  which  he  had  heard. 

Some  of  these  references  have  already  been  quoted, 
and  we  need  not  repeat  the  evidence  derived  from 
Plato,  Ephorus,    or    Arrian.     But    an    observation    of 

distinctly  this  avoidance  of/  on  the  Irish  side  and  lack  of  any  objection 
to  it  on  the  Welsh.     The  following  are  a  few  illustrations  : 

Irish  Welsh  English 

crann  prenn  tree 

mac  map  son 

cenn  pen  head 

clumh  (cluv)  pluv  feather 

cuig  pimp  five 

The  conclusion  that  Irish  must  represent  the  older  form  of  the 
language  seems  obvious.  It  is  remarkable  that  even  to  a  compara- 
tively late  date  the  Irish  preserved  their  dislike  to  />.  Thus  they 
turned  the  Latin  Pascha  (Easter)  to  Casg ;  purpur,  purple,  to  corcair, 
pulsatio  (through  French  pouls)  to  cuisle.  It  must  be  noted,  how- 
ever, that  Nicholson  in  his  "Keltic  Researches"  endeavours  to  show 
that  the  so-called  Indo-European  / — that  is,  p  standing  alone  and 
uncombined  with  another  consonant — was  pronounced  by  the 
Goidelic  Celts  at  an  early  period.  The  subject  can  hardly  be  said  to 
be  cleared  up  yet. 
36 


CESAR'S  ACCOUNT 
M.  Porcius  Cato  on  the  Gauls  may  be  adduced.     "  There 
are  two   things,"    he   says,   "  to   which   the  Gauls  are 
devoted — the  art  of  war  and  subtlety  of  speech  "  ("  rem 
militarem  et  argute  loqui  "). 

Caesar's  Account 

Caesar  has  given  us  a  careful  and  critical  account 
of  them  as  he  knew  them  in  Gaul.  They  were,  he 
says,  eager  for  battle,  but  easily  dashed  by  reverses. 
They  were  extremely  superstitious,  submitting  to  their 
Druids  in  all  public  and  private  affairs,  and  regarding 
it  as  the  worst  of  punishments  to  be  excommunicated 
and  forbidden  to  approach  the  ceremonies  of  religion  : 

"They  who  are  thus  interdicted  [for  refusing  to 
obey  a  Druidical  sentence]  are  reckoned  in  the  number 
of  the  vile  and  wicked  ;  all  persons  avoid  and  fly  their 
company  and  discourse,  lest  they  should  receive  any 
infection  by  contagion ;  they  are  not  permitted  to 
commence  a  suit ;  neither  is  any  post  entrusted  to 
them.  .  .  .  The  Druids  are  generally  freed  from 
military  service,  nor  do  they  pay  taxes  with  the 
rest.  .  .  .  Encouraged  by  such  rewards,  many  of 
their  own  accord  come  to  their  schools,  and  are  sent 
by  their  friends  and  relations.  They  are  said  there  to 
get  by  heart  a  great  number  of  verses  ;  some  continue 
twenty  years  in  their  education  ;  neither  is  it  held 
lawful  to  commit  these  things  [the  Druidic  doctrines] 
to  writing,  though  in  almost  all  public  transactions  and 
private  accounts  they  use  the  Greek  characters." 

The  Gauls  were  eager  for  news,  besieging  merchants 
and  travellers  for  gossip,1  easily  influenced,  sanguine, 

1  The  Irish,  says  Edmund  Spenser,  in  his  "  View  of  the  Present 
State  of  Ireland,"  "  use  commonyle  to  send  up  and  down  to  know 
newes,  and  yf  any  meet  with  another,  his  second  woorde  is,  What 
newes  ? " 

37 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

credulous,  fond  of  change,  and  wavering  in  their 
counsels.  They  were  at  the  same  time  remarkably- 
acute  and  intelligent,  very  quick  to  seize  upon  and 
to  imitate  any  contrivance  they  found  useful.  Their 
ingenuity  in  baffling  the  novel  siege  apparatus  of  the 
Roman  armies  is  specially  noticed  by  Caesar.  Of  their 
courage  he  speaks  with  great  respect,  attributing  their 
scorn  of  death,  in  some  degree  at  least,  to  their  firm 
faith  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul.1  A  people  who 
in  earlier  days  had  again  and  again  annihilated  Roman 
armies,  had  sacked  Rome,  and  who  had  more  than 
once  placed  Caesar  himself  in  positions  of  the  utmost 
anxiety  and  peril,  were  evidently  no  weaklings,  what- 
ever their  religious  beliefs  or  practices.  Caesar  is  not 
given  to  sentimental  admiration  of  his  foes,  but  one 
episode  at  the  siege  of  Avaricum  moves  him  to 
immortalise  the  valour  of  the  defence.  A  wooden 
structure  or  agger  had  been  raised  by  the  Romans 
to  overtop  the  walls,  which  had  proved  impregnable 
to  the  assaults  of  the  battering-ram.  The  Gauls 
contrived  to  set  this  on  fire.  It  was  of  the  utmost 
moment  to  prevent  the  besiegers  from  extinguishing 
the  flames,  and  a  Gaul  mounted  a  portion  of  the  wall 
above  the  agger^  throwing  down  upon  it  balls  of  tallow 
and  pitch,  which  were  handed  up  to  him  from  within. 
He  was  soon  struck  down  by  a  missile  from  a  Roman 
catapult.  Immediately  another  stepped  over  him  as  he 
lay,  and  continued  his  comrade's  task.     He  too  fell 

1  Compare  Spenser  :  "  I  have  heard  some  greate  warriors  say,  that 
in  all  the  services  which  they  had  seen  abroad  in  forrayne  countrey 
they  never  saw  a  more  comely  horseman  than  the  Irish  man,  nor  tha 
cometh  on  more  bravely  in  his  charge  .  .   .  they  are  very  valiante 
and  hardye,  for  the  most  part  great  endurours  of  cold,  labour,  hunger 
and  all   hardiness,  very  active   and  stronge   of  hand,  very  swift  o« 
foote,  very   vigilaunte   and   circumspect   in    theyr   enterprises,   very 
present  in  perrils,  very  great  scorners  of  death." 
38 


Immediately  another  stepped  over  him  as  he  lay"  38 


STRABO  ON  THE  CELTS 

but  a  third  instantly  took  his  place,  and  a  fourth  ;  nor 
was  this  post  ever  deserted  until  the  legionaries  at 
last  extinguished  the  flames  and  forced  the  defenders 
back  into  the  town,  which  was  finally  captured  on  the 
following  day. 

Strabo  on  the  Celts 

The  geographer  and  traveller  Strabo,  who  died 
24  a.d.,  and  was  therefore  a  little  later  than  Caesar,  has 
much  to  tell  us  about  the  Celts.  He  notices  that  their 
country  (in  this  case  Gaul)  is  thickly  inhabited  and  well 
tilled — there  is  no  waste  of  natural  resources.  The 
women  are  prolific,  and  notably  good  mothers.  He 
describes  the  men  as  warlike,  passionate,  disputatious, 
easily  provoked,  but  generous  and  unsuspicious,  and 
easily  vanquished  by  stratagem.  They  showed  them- 
selves eager  for  culture,  and  Greek  letters  and  science 
had  spread  rapidly  among  them  from  Massilia  ;  public 
education  was  established  in  their  towns.  They  fought 
better  on  horseback  than  on  foot,  and  in  Strabo's  time 
formed  the  flower  of  the  Roman  cavalry.  They  dwelt 
in  great  houses  made  of  arched  timbers  with  walls  of 
wickerwork — no  doubt  plastered  with  clay  and  lime, 
as  in  Ireland — and  thickly  thatched.  Towns  of  much 
importance  were  found  in  Gaul,  and  Caesar  notes  the 
strength  of  their  walls,  built  of  stone  and  timber. 
Both  Caesar  and  Strabo  agree  that  there  was  a  very 
sharp  division  between  the  nobles  and  priestly  or 
educated  class  on  the  one  hand  and  the  common 
people  on  the  other,  the  latter  being  kept  in  strict 
subjection.  The  social  division  corresponds  roughly 
no  doubt,  to  the  race  distinction  between  the  true 
Celts  and  the  aboriginal  populations  subdued  by  them 
While  Caesar  tells  us  that  the  Druids  taught  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  Strabo  adds  that  they  believed  in 

39 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  indestructibility,  which  implies  in  some  sense  the 
divinity,  of  the  material  universe. 

The  Celtic  warrior  loved  display.  Everything  that 
gave  brilliance  and  the  sense  of  drama  to  life  appealed 
to  him.  His  weapons  were  richly  ornamented,  his 
horse-trappings  were  wrought  in  bronze  and  enamel,  of 
design  as  exquisite  as  any  relic  of  Mycenean  or  Cretan 
art,  his  raiment  was  embroidered  with  gold.  The 
scene  of  the  surrender  of  Vercingetorix,  when  his 
heroic  struggle  with  Rome  had  come  to  an  end  on 
the  fall  of  Alesia,  is  worth  recording  as  a  typically 
Celtic  blend  of  chivalry  and  of  what  appeared  to  the 
sober-minded  Romans  childish  ostentation.1  When 
he  saw  that  the  cause  was  lost  he  summoned  a  tribal 
council,  and  told  the  assembled  chiefs,  whom  he  had 
led  through  a  glorious  though  unsuccessful  war,  that 
he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  himself  for  his  still  faithful 
followers — they  might  send  his  head  to  Caesar  if  they 
liked,  or  he  would  voluntarily  surrender  himself  for 
the  sake  of  getting  easier  terms  for  his  countrymen. 
The  latter  alternative  was  chosen.  Vercingetorix  then 
armed  himself  with  his  most  splendid  weapons,  decked 
his  horse  with  its  richest  trappings,  and,  after  riding 
thrice  round  the  Roman  camp,  went  before  Caesar  and 
laid  at  his  feet  the  sword  which  was  the  sole  remaining 
defence  of  Gallic  independence.  Caesar  sent  him  to 
Rome,  where  he  lay  in  prison  for  six  years,  and  was 
finally  put  to  death  when  Caesar  celebrated  his  triumph. 

But  the  Celtic  love  of  splendour  and  of  art  were 
mixed  with  much  barbarism.  Strabo  tells  us  how  the 
warriors  rode  home   from  victory  with  the   heads   of 

1  The  scene  of  the  surrender  of  Vercingetorix  is  not  recounted  by 
Caesar,  and    rests  mainly  on  the  authority  of  Plutarch  and  of  the 
historian  Florus,  but  it  is  accepted  by  scholars  (Mommsen,  Long,  &c.) 
as  historic. 
40 


DIODORUS 

fallen  foemen  dangling  from  their  horses'  necks,  just  as 
in  the  Irish  saga  the  Ulster  hero,  Cuchulain,  is  repre- 
sented as  driving  back  to  Emania  from  a  foray  into 
Connacht  with  the  heads  of  his  enemies  hanging  from 
his  chariot-rim.  Their  domestic  arrangements  were 
rude  ;  they  lay  on  the  ground  to  sleep,  sat  on  couches 
of  straw,  and  their  women  worked  in  the  fields. 

Polybius 

A  characteristic  scene  from  the  battle  of  Clastidium 
(222  B.C.)  is  recorded  by  Polybius.  The  Gaesati,1  he 
tells  us,  who  were  in  the  forefront  of  the  Celtic 
army,  stripped  naked  for  the  fight,  and  the  sight  of 
these  warriors,  with  their  great  stature  and  their  fair 
skins,  on  which  glittered  the  collars  and  bracelets  of 
gold  so  loved  as  an  adornment  by  all  the  Celts,  filled 
the  Roman  legionaries  with  awe.  Yet  when  the  day 
was  over  those  golden  ornaments  went  in  cartloads  to 
deck  the  Capitol  of  Rome  ;  and  the  final  comment  of 
Polybius  on  the  character  of  the  Celts  is  that  they,  "  1 
say  not  usually,  but  always,  in  everything  they  attempt, 
are  driven  headlong  by  their  passions,  and  never  sub- 
mit to  the  laws  of  reason."  As  might  be  expected, 
the  chastity  for  which  the  Germans  were  noted  was 
never,  until  recent  times,  a  Celtic  characteristic. 

Diodorus 

Diodorus  Siculus,  a  contemporary  of  Julius  Caesar  and 
Augustus,  who  had  travelled  in  Gaul,  confirms  in  the 
main  the  accounts  of  Caesar  and  Strabo,  but  adds  some 

1  These  were  a  tribe  who  took  their  name  from  the  gcesum,  a  kind 
of  Celtic  javelin,  which  was  their  principal  weapon.  The  torque, 
or  twisted  collar  of  gold,  is  introduced  as  a  typical  ornament  in  the 
well-known  statue  of  the  dying  Gaul,  commonly  called  "  The  Dying 
Gladiator."  Many  examples  are  preserved  in  the  National  Museum 
of  Dublin. 

4i 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

interesting  details.  He  notes  in  particular  the  Gallic 
love  of  gold.  Even  cuirasses  were  made  of  it.  This 
is  also  a  very  notable  trait  in  Celtic  Ireland,  where  an 
astonishing  number  of  prehistoric  gold  relics  have  been 
found,  while  many  more,  now  lost,  are  known  to  have 
existed.  The  temples  and  sacred  places,  say  Posidonius 
and  Diodorus,  were  full  of  unguarded  offerings  of 
gold,  which  no  one  ever  touched.  He  mentions  the 
great  reverence  paid  to  the  bards,  and,  like  Cato,  notices 
something  peculiar  about  the  kind  of  speech  which 
the  educated  Gauls  cultivated  :  "  they  are  not  a  talka- 
tive people,  and  are  fond  of  expressing  themselves  in 
enigmas,  so  that  the  hearer  has  to  divine  the  most  part 
of  what  they  would  say."  This  exactly  answers  to  the 
literary  language  of  ancient  Ireland,  which  is  curt  and 
allusive  to  a  degree.  The  Druid  was  regarded  as  the 
prescribed  intermediary  between  God  and  man — no  one 
could  perform  a  religious  act  without  his  assistance. 

Ammianus  Marcellinus 

Ammianus  Marcellinus,  who  wrote  much  later,  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  fourth  century  a.d.,  had  also  visited 
Gaul,  which  was  then,  of  course,  much  Romanised. 
He  tells  us,  however,  like  former  writers,  of  the  great 
stature,  fairness,  and  arrogant  bearing  of  the  Gallic 
warrior.  He  adds  that  the  people,  especially  in 
Aquitaine,  were  singularly  clean  and  proper  in  their 
persons — no  one  was  to  be  seen  in  rags.  The  Gallic 
woman  he  describes  as  very  tall,  blue-eyed,  and  singu- 
larly beautiful ;  but  a  certain  amount  of  awe  is  mingled 
with  his  evident  admiration,  for  he  tells  us  that  while 
it  was  dangerous  enough  to  get  into  a  fight  with  a 
Gallic  man,  your  case  was  indeed  desperate  if  his  wife 
with  her  "  huge  snowy  arms,"  which  could  strike  like 
catapults,  came  to  his  assistance.  One  is  irresistibly 
42 


Vercingetorix  riding  round  the  Roman  Camp 


42 


RICE  HOLMES  ON  THE  GAULS 

reminded  of  the  gallery  of  vigorous,  independent, 
fiery-hearted  women,  like  Maeve,  Grania,  Findabair, 
Deirdre,  and  the  historic  Boadicea,  who  figure  in  the 
myths  and  in  the  history  of  the  British  Islands. 

Rice  Holmes  on  the  Gauls 

The  following  passage  from  Dr.  Rice  Holmes' 
"  Caesar's  Conquest  of  Gaul  "  may  be  taken  as  an  ad- 
mirable summary  of  the  social  physiognomy  of  that  part 
of  Celtica  a  little  before  the  time  of  the  Christian  era, 
and  it  corresponds  closely  to  all  that  is  known  of  the 
native  Irish  civilisation  : 

"The  Gallic  peoples  had  risen  far  above  the  con- 
dition of  savages  ;    and  the  Celticans  of  the  interior, 
many    of  whom    had    already    fallen    under    Roman 
influence,  had  attained  a  certain  degree  of  civilisation, 
and  even  of  luxury.     Their  trousers,  from  which  the 
province  took  its  name  of  Gallia  Bracata,   and  their 
many-coloured    tartan    skirts    and    cloaks    excited    the 
astonishment  of  their  conquerors.      The   chiefs   wore 
rings  and  bracelets  and  necklaces  of  gold  ;  and  when 
these  tall,  fair-haired  warriors  rode  forth  to  battle,  with 
their   helmets   wrought   in   the   shape    of  some   fierce 
beast's    head,    and    surmounted    by   nodding    plumes, 
their  chain  armour,  their  long  bucklers  and  their  huge 
clanking  swords,  they  made  a  splendid  show.     Walled 
towns  or  large  villages,  the  strongholds  of  the  various 
tribes,    were    conspicuous    on    numerous    hills.      The 
plains  were  dotted  by  scores  of  open  hamlet*.     The 
houses,  built  of  timber  and  wickerwork,  were    large 
and  well  thatched.     The  fields  in  summer  were  yellow 
with  corn.     Roads   ran    from    town    to   town.     Rude 
bridges   spanned   the   rivers  ;    and    barges    laden   with 
merchandise  floated  along  them.     Ships  clumsy  indeed 

43 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

but  larger  than  any  that  were  seen  on  the  Mediterranean, 
braved  the  storms  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay  and  carried 
cargoes  between  the  ports  of  Brittany  and  the  coast  of 
Britain.  Tolls  were  exacted  on  the  goods  which  were 
transported  on  the  great  waterways  ;  and  it  was  from 
the  farming  of  these  dues  that  the  nobles  derived  a 
large  part  of  their  wealth.  Every  tribe  had  its  coinage  ; 
and  the  knowledge  of  writing  in  Greek  and  Roman 
characters  was  not  confined  to  the  priests.  The 
iEduans  were  familiar  with  the  plating  of  copper  and 
of  tin.  The  miners  of  Aquitaine,  of  Auvergne,  and  of 
the  Berri  were  celebrated  for  their  skill.  Indeed,  in 
all  that  belonged  to  outward  prosperity  the  peoples  of 
Gaul  had  made  great  strides  since  their  kinsmen  first 
came  into  contact  with  Rome."  x 

Weakness  of  the  Celtic  Policy 

Yet  this  native  Celtic  civilisation,  in  many  respects 
so  attractive  and  so  promising,  had  evidently  some 
defect  or  disability  which  prevented  the  Celtic  peoples 
from  holding  their  own  either  against  the  ancient 
civilisation  of  the  Graeco-Roman  world,  or  against  the 
rude  young  vigour  of  the  Teutonic  races.  Let  us 
consider  what  this  was. 

1  "Caesar's  Conquest  of  Gaul,"  pp.  10,  II.  Let  it  be  added 
that  the  aristocratic  Celts  were,  like  the  Teutons,  dolichocephalic — 
that  is  to  say,  they  had  heads  long  in  proportion  to  their  breadth. 
This  is  proved  by  remains  found  in  the  basin  of  the  Marne,  which 
was  thickly  populated  by  them.  In  one  case  the  skeleton  of  the  tall 
Gallic  warrior  was  found  with  his  war-car,  iron  helmet,  and  sword, 
now  in  the  Musee  de  St. -Germain.  The  inhabitants  of  the  British 
Islands  are  uniformly  long-headed,  the  round-headed  "  Alpine  "  type 
occurring  very  rarely.  Those  of  modern  France  are  round-headed.  The 
shape  of  the  head,  however,  is.now  known  to  be  by  no  means  a  constant 
racial  character.  It  alters  rapidly  in  a  new  environment,  as  is  shown  by 
measurements  of  the  descendants  of  immigrants  in  America.  See  an 
article  on  this  subject  by  Professor  Haddon  in  "Nature,"  Nov.  3, 1910. 
44 


TEUTONIC  LOYALTY 

The  Classical  State 

At  the  root  of  the  success  of  classical  nations  lay  the 
conception  of  the  civic  community,  the  71-0X19,  the  res 
publica,  as  a  kind  of  divine  entity,  the  foundation  of 
blessing  to  men,  venerable  for  its  age,  yet  renewed  in 
youth  with  every  generation  ;   a  power  which  a  man 
might  joyfully  serve,   knowing  that   even   if  not   re- 
membered   in    its    records    his   faithful   service   would 
outlive  his   own   petty   life  and   go   to   exalt  the   life 
of  his  motherland  or  city  for  all  future  time.     In  this 
spirit  Socrates,  when  urged  to  evade  his  death  sentence 
by  taking  the  means  of  escape  from  prison  which  his 
friends  offered  him,  rebuked  them  for  inciting  him  to 
an   impious   violation   of  his    country's    laws.     For   a 
man's  country,  he  says,   is   more  holy  and  venerable 
than  father  or  mother,  and  he  must  quietly  obey  the 
laws  to  which  he  has  assented,  by  living  under  them  all 
his  life,  or  incur  the  just  wrath  of  their  great  Brethren, 
the  Laws  of  the   Underworld,   before   whom,   in   the 
end,  he  must  answer  for  his  conduct  on  earth.     In  a 
greater  or  less  degree  this  exalted  conception  of  the 
State  formed  the  practical  religion  of  every  man  among 
the  classical  nations  of  antiquity,  and  gave  to  the  State 
its  cohesive  power,  its  capability  of  endurance  and  of 
progress. 

Teutonic  Loyalty 

With  the  Teuton  the  cohesive  force  was  supplied 
by  another  motive,  one  which  was  destined  to  mingle 
with  the  civic  motive  and  to  form,  in  union  with  it — 
and  often  in  predominance  over  it — the  main  political 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  European  nations. 
This  was  the  sentiment  of  what  the  Germans  called 
Treue,  the  personal  fidelity  to  a  chief,  which  in  very 

45 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

early  times  extended  itself  to  a  royal  dynasty,  a 
sentiment  rooted  profoundly  in  the  Teutonic  nature, 
and  one  which  has  never  been  surpassed  by  any 
other  human  impulse  as  the  source  of  heroic  self- 
sacrifice. 

Celtic  Religion 

No  human  influences  are  ever  found  pure  and 
unmixed.  The  sentiment  of  personal  fidelity  was  not 
unknown  to  the  classical  nations.  The  sentiment  of 
civic  patriotism,  though  of  slow  growth  among  the 
Teutonic  races,  did  eventually  establish  itself  there. 
Neither  sentiment  was  unknown  to  the  Celt,  but  there 
was  another  force  which,  in  his  case,  overshadowed  and 
dwarfed  them,  and  supplied  what  it  could  of  the 
political  inspiration  and  unifying  power  which  the 
classical  nations  got  from  patriotism  and  the  Teutons 
from  loyalty.  This  was  Religion  ;  or  perhaps  it 
would  be  more  accurate  to  say  Sacerdotalism — religion 
codified  in  dogma  and  administered  by  a  priestly  caste. 
The  Druids,  as  we  have  seen  from  Caesar,  whose 
observations  are  entirely  confirmed  by  Strabo  and  by 
references  in  Irish  legends,1  were  the  really  sovran 
power  in  Celtica.  All  affairs,  public  and  private,  were 
subject  to  their  authority,  and  the  penalties  which 
they  could  inflict  for  any  assertion  of  lay  independence, 
though  resting  for  their  efficacy,  like  the  mediaeval  in- 
terdicts of  the  Catholic  Church,  on  popular  superstition 

1  In  the  "  Tain  Bo  Cuailgne,"  for  instance,  the  King  of  Ulster  must 
not  speak  to  a  messenger  until  the  Druid,  Cathbad,  has  questioned 
him.  One  recalls  the  lines  of  Sir  Samuel  Ferguson  in  his  Irish  epic 
poem,    '■  Congal  "  : 

"...   For  ever  since  the  time 
When  Cathbad  smothered  Usnach's  sons  in  that  foul  sea  of  slime 
Raised  by  abominable  spells  at  Creeveroe's  bloody  gate, 
Do  ruin  and  dishonour  still  on  priest-led  kings  await." 
46 


THE  CURSING  OF  TARA 

alone,  were  enough  to  quell  the  proudest  spirit.  Here 
lay  the  real  weakness  of  the  Celtic  polity.  There 
is  perhaps  no  law  written  more  conspicuously  in  the 
teachings  of  history  than  that  nations  who  are  ruled 
by  priests  drawing  their  authority  from  supernatural 
sanctions  are,  just  in  the  measure  that  they  are  so  ruled, 
incapable  of  true  national  progress.  The  free,  healthy 
current  of  secular  life  and  thought  is,  in  the  very  nature 
of  things,  incompatible  with  priestly  rule.  Be  the  creed 
what  it  may,  Druidism,  Islam,  Judaism,  Christianity,  or 
fetichism,  a  priestly  caste  claiming  authority  in  temporal 
affairs  by  virtue  of  extra-temporal  sanctions  is  inevitably 
the  enemy  of  that  spirit  of  criticism,  of  that  influx  of 
new  ideas,  of  that  growth  of  secular  thought,  of  human 
and  rational  authority,  which  are  the  elementary  con- 
ditions of  national  development. 

The  Cursing  of  Tara 

A  singular  and  very  cogent  illustration  of  this  truth 
can  be  drawn  from  the  history  of  the  early  Celtic 
world.  In  the  sixth  century  a.d.,  a  little  over  a 
hundred  years  after  the  preaching  of  Christianity  by 
St.  Patrick,  a  king  named  Dermot  MacKerval  *  ruled 
in  Ireland.  He  was  the  Ard  Righ,  or  High  King,  of 
that  country,  whose  seat  of  government  was  at  Tara,  in 
Meath,  and  whose  office,  with  its  nominal  and  legal 
superiority  to  the  five  provincial  kings,  represented  the 
impulse  which  was  moving  the  Irish  people  towards  a 
true  national  unity.  The  first  condition  of  such  a  unity 
was  evidently  the  establishment  of  an  effective  central 
authority.  Such  an  authority,  as  we  have  said,  the 
High  King,  in  theory,  represented.  Now  it  happened 
that  one  of  his  officers  was  murdered  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty  by  a  chief  named  Hugh  Guairy.  Guairy 
1  Ctlt'ice,  Diarmuid  mac  Cearbhaill. 

47 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

was  the  brother  of  a  bishop  who  was  related  by 
fosterage  to  St.  Ruadan  of  Lorrha,  and  when  King 
Dermot  sent  to  arrest  the  murderer  these  clergy  found 
him  a  hiding-place.  Dermot,  however,  caused  a  search 
to  be  made,  haled  him  forth  from  under  the  roof  of 
St.  Ruadan,  and  brought  him  to  Tara  for  trial.  Im- 
mediately the  ecclesiastics  of  Ireland  made  common 
cause  against  the  lay  ruler  who  had  dared  to  execute 
justice  on  a  criminal  under  clerical  protection.  They 
assembled  at  Tara,  fasted  against  the  king,1  and  laid 
their  solemn  malediction  upon  him  and  the  seat  of 
his  government.  Then  the  chronicler  tells  us  that 
Dermot's  wife  had  a  prophetic  dream  : 

"  Upon  Tara's  green  was  a  vast  and  wide-foliaged 
tree,  and  eleven  slaves  hewing  at  it  ;  but  every  chip 
that  they  knocked  from  it  would  return  into  its  place 
again  and  there  adhere  instantly,  till  at  last  there  came 
one  man  that  dealt  the  tree  but  a  stroke,  and  with  that 
single  cut  laid  it  low."2 

The  fair  tree  was  the  Irish  monarchy,  the  twelve 
hewers  were  the  twelve  Saints  or  Apostles  of  Ireland, 
and  the  one  who  laid  it  low  was  St.  Ruadan.  The  plea 
of  the  king  for  his  country,  whose  fate  he  saw  to  be 
hanging  in  the  balance,  is  recorded  with  moving  force 
and  insight  by  the  Irish  chronicler  :  * 

1  It  was  the  practice,  known  in  India  also,  for  a  person  who  was 
wronged  by  a  superior,  or  thought  himself  so,  to  sit  before  the  door- 
step of  the  denier  of  justice  and  fast  until  right  was  done  him.  In 
Ireland  a  magical  power  was  attributed  to  the  ceremony,  the  effect 
of  which  would  be  averted  by  the  other  person  fasting  as  well. 

J  "  Silva  Gadelica,"  by  S.  H.  O'Grady,  p.  73. 

3  The  authority  here  quoted  is  a  narrative  contained  in  a  fifteenth- 
century  vellum  manuscript  found  in  Lismore  Castle  in    18 14,  and 
translated  by  S.  H.  O'Grady  in  his  "  Silva  Gadelica."     The  narrative 
is  attributed  to  an  officer  of  Dermot's  court. 
48 


Desolate  be  Tara  for  ever  and  ever!" 


48 


THE  CURSING  OF  TARA 

" '  Alas,'  he  said,  '  for  the  iniquitous  contest  that  ye 
have  waged  against  me  ;  seeing  that  it  is  Ireland's 
good  that  I  pursue,  and  to  preserve  her  discipline  and 
royal  right  ;  but  'tis  Ireland's  unpeace  and  murderous- 
ness  that  ye  endeavour  after.'" 

But  Ruadan  said,  "  Desolate  be  Tara  for  ever  and 
ever"  ;  and  the  popular  awe  of  the  ecclesiastical  male- 
diction prevailed.  The  criminal  was  surrendered,  Tara 
was  abandoned,  and,  except  for  a  brief  space  when  a 
strong  usurper,  Brian  Boru,  fought  his  way  to  power, 
Ireland  knew  no  effective  secular  government  till  it 
was  imposed  upon  her  by  a  conqueror.  The  last 
words  of  the  historical  tract  from  which  we  quote  are 
Dermot's  cry  of  despair  : 

"  Woe  to  him  that  with  the  clergy  of  the  churches 
battle  joins." 

This  remarkable  incident  has  been  described  at  some 
length  because  it  is  typical  of  a  factor  whose  pro- 
found influence  in  moulding  the  history  of  the  Celtic 
peoples  we  can  trace  through  a  succession  of  critical 
events  from  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  to  the  present 
day.  How  and  whence  it  arose  we  shall  consider  later  ; 
here  it  is  enough  to  call  attention  to  it.  It  is  a  factor 
which  forbade  the  national  development  of  the  Celts, 
in  the  sense  in  which  we  can  speak  of  that  of  the 
classical  or  the  Teutonic  peoples. 

What  Europe  Owes  to  the  Celt 

Yet  to  suppose  that  on  this  account  the  Celt  was  not  a 
force  of  any  real  consequence  in  Europe  would  be  alto- 
gether a  mistake.  His  contribution  to  the  culture  of 
the  Western  world  was  a  very  notable  one.  For  some 
four  centuries — about  a.d.   500  to  900 — Ireland  was 

d  49 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  refuge  of  learning  and  the  source  of  literary  and 
philosophic  culture  for  half  Europe.  The  verse-forms 
of  Celtic  poetry  have  probably  played  the  main  part  in 
determining  the  structure  of  all  modern  verse.  The 
myths  and  legends  of  the  Gaelic  and  Cymric  peoples 
kindled  the  imagination  of  a  host  of  Continental  poets. 
True,  the  Celt  did  not  himself  create  any  great  archi- 
tectural work  of  literature,  just  as  he  did  not  create  a 
stable  or  imposing  national  polity.  His  thinking  and 
feeling  were  essentially  lyrical  and  concrete.  Each 
object  or  aspect  of  life  impressed  him  vividly  and 
stirred  him  profoundly  ;  he  was  sensitive,  impression- 
able to  the  last  degree,  but  did  not  see  things  in  their 
larger  and  more  far-reaching  relations.  He  had  little 
gift  for  the  establishment  of  institutions,  for  the  service 
of  principles  ;  but  he  was,  and  is,  an  indispensable  and 
never-failing  assertor  of  humanity  as  against  the 
tyranny  of  principles,  the  coldness  and  barrenness  of 
institutions.  The  institutions  of  royalty  and  of  civic 
patriotism  are  both  very  capable  of  being  fossilised 
into  barren  formulae,  and  thus  of  fettering  instead  of 
inspiring  the  soul.  But  the  Celt  has  always  been  a 
rebel  against  anything  that  has  not  in  it  the  breath  of 
life,  against  any  unspiritual  and  purely  external  form 
of  domination.  It  is  too  true  that  he  has  been  over- 
eager  to  enjoy  the  fine  fruits  of  life  without  the  long 
and  patient  preparation  for  the  harvest,  but  he  has 
done  and  will  still  do  infinite  service  to  the  modern 
world  in  insisting  that  the  true  fruit  of  life  is  a 
spiritual  reality,  never  without  pain  and  loss  to  be 
obscured  or  forgotten  amid  the  vast  mechanism  of  a 
material  civilisation. 


50 


CHAPTER  II :  THE  RELIGION  OF 
THE  CELTS 

Ireland  and  the  Celtic  Religion 

WE  have  said  that  the  Irish  among  the  Celtic 
peoples  possess  the  unique  interest  of  having 
carried  into  the  light  of  modern  historical  re- 
search many  of  the  features  of  a  native  Celtic  civilisation. 
There  is,  however,  one  thing  which  they  did  not  carry 
across  the  gulf  which  divides  us  from  the  ancient  world 
— and  this  was  their  religion. 

It  was  not  merely  that  they  changed  it  ;  they  left  it 
behind  them  so  entirely  that  all  record  of  it  is  lost. 
St.  Patrick,  himself  a  Celt,  who  apostolised  Ireland 
during  the  fifth  century,  has  left  us  an  autobiographical 
narrative  of  his  mission,  a  document  of  intense  interest, 
and  the  earliest  extant  record  of  British  Christianity  ; 
but  in  it  he  tells  us  nothing  of  the  doctrines  he  came  to 
supplant.  We  learn  far  more  of  Celtic  religious  beliefs 
from  Julius  Caesar,  who  approached  them  from  quite 
another  side.  The  copious  legendary  literature  which 
took  its  present  form  in  Ireland  between  the  seventh 
and  the  twelfth  centuries,  though  often  manifestly 
going  back  to  pre-Christian  sources,  shows  us,  beyond 
a  belief  in  magic  and  a  devotion  to  certain  ceremonial 
or  chivalric  observances,  practically  nothing  resembling 
a  religious  or  even  an  ethical  system.  We  know  that 
certain  chiefs  and  bards  offered  a  long  resistance  to 
the  new  faith,  and  that  this  resistance  came  to  the 
arbitrament  of  battle  at  Moyrath  in  the  sixth  century, 
but  no  echo  of  any  intellectual  controversy,  no  matching 
of  one  doctrine  against  another,  such  as  we  find,  for 
instance,  in  the  records  of  the  controversy  of  Celsus 
with  Origen,  has  reached  us  from  this  period  of  change 
and  strife.     The  literature  of  ancient   Ireland,  as  we 

5i 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

shall  see,  embodied  many  ancient  myths  ;  and  traces 
appear  in  it  of  beings  who  must,  at  one  time,  have  been 
gods  or  elemental  powers  ;  but  all  has  been  emptied 
of  religious  significance  and  turned  to  romance  and 
beauty.  Yet  not  only  was  there,  as  Caesar  tells  us,  a 
very  well-developed  religious  system  among  the  Gauls, 
but  we  learn  on  the  same  authority  that  the  British 
Islands  were  the  authoritative  centre  of  this  system  ; 
they  were,  so  to  speak,  the  Rome  of  the  Celtic  religion. 
What  this  religion  was  like  we  have  now  to  consider, 
as  an  introduction  to  the  myths  and  tales  which  more 
or  less  remotely  sprang  from  it. 

The  Popular  Religion  of  the  Celts 

But  first  we  must  point  out  that  the  Celtic  religion 
was  by  no  means  a  simple  affair,  and  cannot  be  summed 
up  as  what  we  call  "  Druidism."  Beside  the  official 
religion  there  was  a  body  of  popular  superstitions  and 
observances  which  came  from  a  deeper  and  older  source 
than  Druidism,  and  was  destined  long  to  outlive  it — 
indeed,  it  is  far  from  dead  even  yet. 

The  Megalithic  People 

The  religions  of  primitive  peoples  mostly  centre  on, 
or  take  their  rise  from,  rites  and  practices  connected 
with  the  burial  of  the  dead.  The  earliest  people  in- 
habiting Celtic  territory  in  the  West  of  Europe  of 
whom  we  have  any  distinct  knowledge  are  a  race 
without  name  or  known  history,  but  by  their  sepulchral 
monuments,  of  which  so  many  still  exist,  we  can  learn 
a  great  deal  about  them.  They  were  the  so-called 
Megalithic  People,1  the  builders  of  dolmens,  cromlechs, 
and    chambered    tumuli,    of   which    more    than    three 

1  From  Greek  megas,  great,  and  lithos>  a  stone. 
52 


DOLMENS,  CROMLECHS,  AND  TUMULI 

thousand  have  been  counted  in  France  alone.  Dolmens 
are  found  from  Scandinavia  southwards,  all  down  the 
western  lands  of  Europe  to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and 
round  by  the  Mediterranean  coast  of  Spain.  They 
occur  in  some  of  the  western  islands  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  are  found  in  Greece,  v/here,  in  Mycenae, 
an  ancient  dolmen  yet  stands  beside  the  magnificent 
burial-chamber  of  the  Atreidae.  Roughly,  if  we  draw 
a  line  from  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone  northward  to 
Varanger  Fiord,  one  may  say  that,  except  for  a  few 
Mediterranean  examples,  all  the  dolmens  in  Europe 
lie  to  the  west  of  that  line.  To  the  east  none  are 
found  till  we  come  into  Asia.  But  they  cross  the 
Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  are  found  all  along  the  North 
African  littoral,  and  thence  eastwards  through  Arabia, 
India,  and  as  far  as  Japan. 

Dolmens,  Cromlechs,  and  Tumuli 

A  dolmen,  it  may  be  here  explained,  is  a  kind  of 
chamber  composed  of  upright  unhewn  stones,  and 
roofed  generally  with  a  single  huge  stone.  They  are 
usually  wedge-shaped 
in  plan,  and  traces  of 
a  porch  or  vestibule 
can  often  be  noticed. 
The  primary  intention 
of  the  dolmen  was  to 
represent  a  house  or 
dwelling-place  for  the 
dead.  A  cromlech 
(often  confused  in 
popular  language  with 
the  dolmen)  is  pro- 
perly a  circular  arrangement  of  standing  stones,?  often 
with  a  dolmen  in  their  midst.     It  is  believed  that  most 

53 


Dolmen  at  Proleek,  Ireland 
{After  Borlasc) 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

if  not  all  of  the  now  exposed  dolmens  were  originally 
covered  with  a  great  mound  of  earth  or  of  smaller  stones. 
Sometimes,  as  in  the  illustration  we  give  from  Carnac, 
in  Brittany,  great  avenues  or  alignments  are  formed  of 
single  upright  stones,  and  these,  no  doubt,  had  some 
purpose  connected  with  the  ritual  of  worship  carried 
on  in  the  locality.     The  later  megalithic  monuments, 
as  at  Stonehenge,  may  be  of  dressed  stone,  but  in  all 
cases  their  rudeness  of  construction,  the  absence  of  any 
sculpturing  (except  for  patterns  or  symbols  incised  on 
the  surface),  the  evident  aim  at  creating  a  powerful  im- 
pression by  the  brute  strength  of  huge  monolithic  masses, 
as  well  as  certain  subsidiary  features   in  their   design 
which  shall  be  described  later  on,  give  these  megalithic 
monuments  a  curious  family  likeness  and  mark  them 
out  from  the  chambered  tombs  of  the  early  Greeks, 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  of  other  more  advanced  races. 
The  dolmens   proper  gave  place  in  the  end  to  great 
chambered  mounds  or  tumuli,  as  at  New  Grange,  which 
we  also  reckon  as  belonging  to  the  Megalithic  People. 
They  are  a  natural  development  of  the  dolmen.     The 
early  dolmen-builders  were  in  the   neolithic  stage  of 
culture,  their  weapons  were  of  polished  stone.     But 
in  the  tumuli  not  only  stone,  but  also  bronze,  and  even 
iron,  instruments  are  found — at  first  evidently  impor- 
tations, but  afterwards  of  local  manufacture. 

Origin  of  the  Megalithic  People 

The  language  originally  spoken  by  this  people  can 
only  be  conjectured  by  the  traces  of  it  left  in  that  of 
their  conquerors,  the  Celts.1  But  a  map  of  the  distri- 
bution of  their  monuments  irresistibly  suggests  the 
idea  that  their  builders  were  of  North  African  origin  ; 
that  they  were  not  at  first  accustomed  to  traverse  the 

1  See  p.  78. 
54 


THE  CELTS  OF  THE  PLAINS 

sea  for  any  great  distance  ;  that  they  migrated  west- 
wards along  North  Africa,  crossed  into  Europe  where 
the  Mediterranean  at  Gibraltar  narrows  to  a  strait  of  a 
few  miles  in  width,  and  thence  spread  over  the  western 
regions  of  Europe,  including  the  British  Islands,  while 
on  the  eastward  they  penetrated  by  Arabia  into  Asia.     It 
must,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  while  originally, 
no  doubt,  a  distinct  race,  the  Megalithic  People  came 
in  the  end  to  represent,  not    a   race,    but    a  culture. 
The  human    remains  found  in  these  sepulchres,  with 
their  wide  divergence  in  the  shape  of  the  skull,  &c, 
clearly  prove  this.1     These  and  other  relics  testify  to  the 
dolmen-builders  in  general  as  representing  a  superior 
and  well-developed  type,  acquainted  with  agriculture, 
pasturage,  and    to    some  extent  with   seafaring.     The 
monuments  themselves,  which  are  often  of  imposing 
size  and  imply  much  thought  and  organised  effort  in 
their  construction,  show  unquestionably  the  existence, 
at  this  period,  of  a  priesthood  charged  with  the  care  of 
funeral  rites  and  capable  of  controlling  large  bodies  of 
men.     Their  dead  were,  as  a   rule,   not   burned,   but 
buried   whole — the   greater    monuments    marking,   no 
doubt,  the  sepulchres  of  important  personages,  while 
the  common  people  were  buried  in  tombs  of  which  no 
traces  now  exist. 

The  Celts  of  the  Plains 

De  Jubainville,  in  his  account  of  the  early  history  of 
the  Celts,  takes  account  of  two  main  groups  only — the 
Celts  and  the  Megalithic  People.  But  A.  Bertrand,  in 
his  very  valuable  work  "La  Religion  des  Gaulois," 
distinguishes  two  elements  among  the  Celts  themselves. 
There  are,  besides  the  Megalithic  People,  the  two  groups 

1  See    Borlase's    "  Dolmens    of  Ireland,"    pp.    605,    606,   for    a 
discussion  of  this  question. 

55 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

of  lowland  Celts  and  mountain  Celts.  The  lowland 
Celts,  according  to  his  view,  started  from  the  Danube 
and  entered  Gaul  probably  about  1200  b.c.  They 
were  the  founders  of  the  lake-dwellings  in  Switzerland, 
in  the  Danube  valley,  and  in  Ireland.  They  knew  the 
use  of  metals,  and  worked  in  gold,  in  tin,  in  bronze,  and 
towards  the  end  of  their  period  in  iron.  Unlike  the 
Megalithic  People,  they  spoke  a  Celtic  tongue,1  though 
Bertrand  seems  to  doubt  their  genuine  racial  affinity 
with  the  true  Celts.  They  were  perhaps  Celticised 
rather  than  actually  Celtic.  They  were  not  warlike  ; 
a  quiet  folk  of  herdsmen,  tillers,  and  artificers.  They 
did  not  bury,  but  burned  their  dead.  At  a  great  settle- 
ment of  theirs,  Golasecca,  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  6000  inter- 
ments were  found.  In  each  case  the  body  had  been 
burned  ;  there  was  not  a  single  burial  without  previous 
burning. 

This  people  entered  Gaul  not  (according  to  Bertrand), 
for  the  most  part,  as  conquerors,  but  by  gradual  infiltra- 
tion, occupying  vacant  spaces  wherever  they  found  them 
along  the  valleys  and  plains.  They  came  by  the  passes 
of  the  Alps,  and  their  starting-point  was  the  country  of 
the  Upper  Danube,  which  Herodotus  says  "  rises  among 
the  Celts."  They  blended  peacefully  with  the  Mega- 
lithic People  among  whom  they  settled,  and  did  not 
evolve  any  of  those  advanced  political  institutions  which 
are  only  nursed  in  war,  but  probably  they  contributed 
powerfully  to  the  development  of  the  Druidical  system 
of  religion  and  to  the  bardic  poetry. 

1  Professor  Ridgeway  (see  Report  of  the  Brit.  Assoc,  for  1908)  has 
contended  that  the  Megalithic  People  spoke  an  Aryan  language  ; 
otherwise  he  thinks  more  traces  of  its  influence  must  have  survived 
in  the  Celtic  which  supplanted  it.  The  weight  of  authority,  as 
well  as  such  direct  evidence  as  we  possess,  seems  to  be  against  his 
view. 
56 


THE  CELTS  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS 

The  Celts  of  the  Mountains 

Finally,  we  have  a  third  group,  the  true  Celtic  group, 
which  followed  closely  on  the  track  of  the  second.  It 
was  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  that  it  first 
made  its  appearance  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine. 
While  Bertrand  calls  the  second  group  Celtic,  these  he 
styles  Galatic,  and  identifies  them  with  the  Galatae  of 
the  Greeks  and  the  Galli  and  Belgae  of  the  Romans. 

The  second  group,  as  we  have  said,  were  Celts  of  the 
plains.  The  third  were  Celts  of  the  mountains.  The 
earliest  home  in  which  we  know  them  was  the  ranges 
of  the  Balkans  and  Carpathians.  Their  organisation 
was  that  of  a  military  aristocracy — they  lorded  it  over 
the  subject  populations  on  whom  they  lived  by  tribute 
or  pillage.  They  are  the  warlike  Celts  of  ancient  his- 
tory— the  sackers  of  Rome  and  Delphi,  the  mercenary 
warriors  who  fought  for  pay  and  for  the  love  of  war- 
fare in  the  ranks  of  Carthage  and  afterwards  of  Rome. 
Agriculture  and  industry  were  despised  by  them,  their 
women  tilled  the  ground,  and  under  their  rule  the 
common  population  became  reduced  almost  to  servitude  ; 
"  plebs  pcene  servorum  habetur  loco,"  as  Caesar  tells  us. 
Ireland  alone  escaped  in  some  degree  from  the  oppression 
of  this  military  aristocracy,  and  from  the  sharp  dividing 
line  which  it  drew  between  the  classes,  yet  even  there  a 
reflexion  of  the  state  of  things  in  Gaul  is  found,  even 
there  we  find  free  and  unfree  tribes  and  oppressive  and 
dishonouring  exactions  on  the  part  of  the  ruling  order. 
Yet,  if  this  ruling  race  had  some  of  the  vices  of  un- 
tamed strength,  they  had  also  many  noble  and  humane 
qualities.  They  were  dauntlessly  brave,  fantastically 
chivalrous,  keenly  sensitive  to  the  appeal  of  poetry,  of 
music,  and  of  speculative  thought.  Posidonius  found 
the  bardic  institution  flourishing  among  them   about 

57 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

ioo  B.C., and  about  two  hundred  years  earlier  Hecataeus  of 
Abdera  describes  the  elaborate  musical  services  held  by 
the  Celts  in  a  Western  island — probably  Great  Britain — 
in  honour  of  their  god  Apollo  (Lugh).1  Aryan  of  the 
Aryans,  they  had  in  them  the  making  of  a  great  and  pro- 
gressive nation  ;  but  the  Druidic  system — not  on  the 
side  of  its  philosophy  and  science,  but  on  that  of  its 
ecclesiastico-political  organisation — was  their  bane,  and 
their  submission  to  it  was  their  fatal  weakness. 

The  culture  of  these  mountain  Celts  differed  markedly 
from  that  of  the  lowlanders.  Their  age  was  the  age  of 
iron,  not  of  bronze  ;  their  dead  were  not  burned  (which 
they  considered  a  disgrace),  but  buried. 

The  territories  occupied  by  them  in  force  were 
Switzerland,  Burgundy,  the  Palatinate,  and  Northern 
France,  parts  of  Britain  to  the  west,  and  Illyria  and 
Galatia  to  the  east,  but  smaller  groups  of  them  must 
have  penetrated  far  and  wide  through  all  Celtic  territory, 
and  taken  up  a  ruling  position  wherever  they  went. 

There  were  three  peoples,  said  Caesar,  inhabiting 
Gaul  when  his  conquest  began ;  "  they  differ  from 
each  other  in  language,  in  customs,  and  in  laws." 
These  people  he  named  respectively  the  Belgae,  the 
Celtae,  and  the  Aquitani.  He  locates  them  roughly,  the 
Belgae  in  the  north  and  east,  the  Celtae  in  the  middle, 
and  the  Aquitani  in  the  west  and  south.  The  Belgae 
are  the  Galatae  of  Bertrand,  the  Celtae  are  the  Celts, 
and  the  Aquitani  are  the  Megalithic  People.  They 
had,  of  course,  all  been  more  or  less  brought  under 
Celtic  influences,  and  the  differences  of  language  which 
Caesar  noticed  need  not  have  been  great ;  still  it  is 
noteworthy,  and  quite  in  accordance  with  Bertrand's 
views,  that  Strabo  speaks  of  the  Aquitani  as  differing 
markedly  from    the    rest    of  the    inhabitants,    and    as 

1  See  Holder,  "  Altceltischer  Sprachschatz,"  sub  voce  "  Hyperboreoi." 
58 


e  = 


c   < 


THE  RELIGION  OF  MAGIC 

resembling  the  Iberians.  The  language  of  the  other 
Gaulish  peoples,  he  expressly  adds,  were  merely 
dialects  of  the  same  tongue. 

The  Religion  of  Magic 

This  triple  division  is  reflected  more  or  less  in  all 
the  Celtic  countries,  and  must  always  be  borne  in  mind 
when  we  speak  of  Celtic  ideas  and  Celtic  religion,  and 
try  to  estimate  the  contribution  of  the  Celtic  peoples  to 
European  culture.  The  mythical  literature  and  the 
art  of  the  Celt  have  probably  sprung  mainly  from  the 
section  represented  by  the  Lowland  Celts  of  Bertrand. 
But  this  literature  of  song  and  saga  was  produced  by  a 
bardic  class  for  the  pleasure  and  instruction  of  a  proud, 
chivalrous,  and  warlike  aristocracy,  and  would  thus 
inevitably  be  moulded  by  the  ideas  of  this  aristocracy. 
But  it  would  also  have  been  coloured  by  the  profound 
influence  of  the  religious  beliefs  and  observances 
entertained  by  the  Megalithic  People — beliefs  which 
are  only  now  fading  slowly  away  in  the  spreading  day- 
light of  science.  These  beliefs  may  be  summed  up  in 
the  one  term  Magic.  The  nature  of  this  religion  of 
magic  must  now  be  briefly  discussed,  for  it  was  a 
potent  element  in  the  formation  of  the  body  of  myths 
and  legends  with  which  we  have  afterwards  to  deal. 
And,  as  Professor  Bury  remarked  in  his  Inaugural 
Lecture  at  Cambridge,  in  1903  : 

"  For  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  that  most  difficult 
of  all  inquiries,  the  ethnical  problem,  the  part  played 
by  race  in  the  development  of  peoples  and  the  effects 
of  race-blendings,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
Celtic  world  commands  one  of  the  chief  portals  of 
ingress  into  that  mysterious  pre- Aryan  foreworld,  from 
which  it  may  well  be  that  we  modern  Europeans  have 
inherited  far  more  than  we  dream." 

59 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  ultimate  root  of  the  word  Magic  is  unknown, 
but  proximately  it  is  derived  from  the  Magi,  or  priests 
of  Chaldea  and  Media  in  pre-Aryan  and  pre-Semitic 
times,  who  were  the  great  exponents  of  this  system  of 
thought,  so  strangely  mingled  of  superstition,  philo- 
sophy, and  scientific  observation.  The  fundamental 
conception  of  magic  is  that  of  the  spiritual  vitality  of  all 
nature.  This  spiritual  vitality  was  not,  as  in  polytheism, 
conceived  as  separated  from  nature  in  distinct  divine 
personalities.  It  was  implicit  and  immanent  in  nature  ; 
obscure,  undefined,  invested  with  all  the  awfulness  of  a 
power  whose  limits  and  nature  are  enveloped  in  im- 
penetrable mystery.  In  its  remote  origin  it  was  doubt- 
less, as  many  facts  appear  to  show,  associated  with  the 
cult  of  the  dead,  for  death  was  looked  upon  as  the  re- 
sumption into  nature,  and  as  the  investment  with  vague 
and  uncontrollable  powers,  of  a  spiritual  force  formerly 
embodied  in  the  concrete,  limited,  manageable,  and 
therefore  less  awful  form  of  a  living  human  personality. 
Yet  these  powers  were  not  altogether  uncontrollable. 
The  desire  for  control,  as  well  as  the  suggestion  of  the 
means  for  achieving  it,  probably  arose  from  the  first 
rude  practices  of  the  art  of  healing.  Medicine  of 
some  sort  was  one  of  the  earliest  necessities  of  man. 
And  the  power  of  certain  natural  substances,  mineral 
or  vegetable,  to  produce  bodily  and  mental  effects 
often  of  a  most  startling  character  would  naturally 
be  taken  as  signal  evidence  of  what  we  may  call  the 
"magical"  conception  of  the  universe.1  The  first 
magicians  were  those  who  attained  a  special  knowledge 
of  healing  or  poisonous  herbs  ;  but  "  virtue  "  of  some 
sort  being  attributed  to  every  natural  object  and  pheno- 

1  Thus  the  Greek  pharmakon  =  medicine,  poison,  or  charm  ;  and  I 
am  informed  that  the  Central  African  word  for  magic  or  charm  is 
tnankwala,  which  also  means  medicine. 
60 


PLINY  ON  THE  RELIGION  OF  MAGIC 

menon,  a  kind  of  magical  science,  partly  the  child  of 
true  research,  partly  of  poetic  imagination,  partly  of 
priestcraft,  would  in  time  spring  up,  would  be  codified 
into  rites  and  formulas,  attached  to  special  places  and 
objects,  and  represented  by  symbols.  The  whole 
subject  has  been  treated  by  Pliny  in  a  remarkable 
passage  which  deserves  quotation  at  length  : 

Pliny  on  the  Religion  of  Magic 

"  Magic  is  one  of  the  few  things  which  it  is  im- 
portant to  discuss  at  some  length,  were  it  only  because, 
being  the  most  delusive  of  all  the  arts,  it  has  everywhere 
and  at  all  times  been  most  powerfully  credited.  Nor 
need  it  surprise  us  that  it  has  obtained  so  vast  an 
influence,  for  it  has  united  in  itself  the  three  arts  which 
have  wielded  the  most  powerful  sway  over  the  spirit  ot 
man.  Springing  in  the  first  instance  from  Medicine — 
a  fact  which  no  one  can  doubt — and  under  cover  of  a 
solicitude  for  our  health,  it  has  glided  into  the  mind, 
and  taken  the  form  of  another  medicine,  more  holy 
and  more  profound.  In  the  second  place,  bearing  the 
most  seductive  and  flattering  promises,  it  has  enlisted 
the  motive  of  Religion,  the  subject  on  which,  even  at 
this  day,  mankind  is  most  in  the  dark.  To  crown  all 
it  has  had  recourse  to  the  art  of  Astrology ;  and  every 
man  is  eager  to  know  the  future  and  convinced  that 
this  knowledge  is  most  certainly  to  be  obtained  from  the 
heavens.  Thus,  holding  the  minds  of  men  enchained 
in  this  triple  bond,  it  has  extended  its  sway  over  many 
nations,  and  the  Kings  of  Kings  obey  it  in  the  East. 

"  In  the  East,  doubtless,  it  was  invented — in  Persia 
and  by  Zoroaster.1     All  the  authorities  agree  in  this. 

1  If  Pliny  meant  that  it  was  here  first  codified  and  organised  he 
may  be  right,  but  the  conceptions  on  which  magic  rest  are  practically 
universal,  and  of  immemorial  antiquity. 

61 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

But  has  there  not  been  more  than  one  Zoroaster  ?  .  .  . 
I  have  noticed  that  in  ancient  times,  and  indeed  almost 
always,  one  finds  men  seeking  in  this  science  the 
climax  of  literary  glory — at  least  Pythagoras,  Empedo- 
cles,  Democritus,  and  Plato  crossed  the  seas,  exiles, 
in  truth,  rather  than  travellers,  to  instruct  themselves 
in  this.  Returning  to  their  native  land,  they  vaunted 
the  claims  of  magic  and  maintained  its  secret  doctrine. 
...  In  the  Latin  nations  there  are  early  traces  of  it, 
as,  for  instance,  in  our  Laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables *  and 
other  monuments,  as  I  have  said  in  a  former  book.  In 
fact,  it  was  not  until  the  year  657  after  the  foundation 
of  Rome,  under  the  consulate  of  Cornelius  Lentulus 
Crassus,  that  it  was  forbidden  by  a  senatus  consulium 
to  sacrifice  human  beings  ;  a  fact  which  proves  that  up 
to  this  date  these  horrible  sacrifices  were  made.  The 
Gauls  have  been  captivated  by  it,  and  that  even  down 
to  our  own  times,  for  it  was  the  Emperor  Tiberius  who 
suppressed  the  Druids  and  all  the  herd  of  prophets 
and  medicine-men.  But  what  is  the  use  of  launching 
prohibitions  against  an  art  which  has  thus  traversed 
the  ocean  and  penetrated  even  to  the  confines  of 
Nature  ?"     (Hist.  Nat.  xxx.) 

Pliny  adds  that  the  first  person  whom  he  can 
ascertain  to  have  written  on  this  subject  was  Osthanes, 
who  accompanied  Xerxes  in  his  war  against  the  Greeks, 
and  who  propagated  the  "germs  of  his  monstrous  art" 
wherever  he  went  in  Europe. 

Magic  was  not — so  Pliny  believed — indigenous  either 
in  Greece  or  in  Italy,  but  was  so  much  at  home  in 
Britain  and  conducted  with  such  elaborate  ritual  that 

1  Adopted  451  B.C.     Livy  entitles  them  "the  fountain  of  all  public 
and  private  right."     They  stood  in  the  Forum  till  the  third  century 
a.d.,  but  have  now  perished,  except  for  fragments  preserved  in  various 
commentaries. 
62 


MAGIC  IN  MEGALITHIC  MONUMENTS 
Pliny    says   it  would   almost   seem   as   if  it   was   they 
who  had  taught  it  to  the  Persians,  not  the  Persians  to 
them. 

Traces  of  Magic  in  Megalithic  Monuments 

The  imposing  relics  of  their  cult  which  the  Mega- 
lithic People  have  left  us  are  full  of  indications  of  their 
religion.  Take,  for  instance,  the  remarkable  tumulus 
of  Mane-er-H'oeck,  in  Brittany.  This  monument  was 
explored  in  1864  by  M.  Rene  Galles,  who  describes  it 
as  absolutely  intact — the  surface  of  the  earth  unbroken, 
and  everything  as  the  builders  left  it.1  At  the  entrance 
to  the  rectangular  chamber  was  a  sculptured  slab,  on 
which  was  graven  a  mysterious  sign,  perhaps  the  totem 
of  a  chief.  Immediately  on  entering  the  chamber  was 
found  a  beautiful  pendant  in  green  jasper  about  the 
size  of  an  egg.  On  the  floor  in  the  centre  of  the 
chamber  was  a  most  singular  arrangement,  consisting  of 
a  large  ring  of  jadite,  slightly  oval  in  shape,  with  a 
magnificent  axe-head,  also  of  jadite,  its  point  resting  on 
the  ring.  The  axe  was  a  well-known  symbol  of  power 
or  godhead,  and  is  frequently  found  in  rock-carvings  of 
the  Bronze  Age,  as  well  as  in  Egyptian  hieroglyphs, 
Minoan  carvings,  &c.  At  a  little  distance  from  these 
there  lay  two  large  pendants  of  jasper,  then  an  axe- 
head  in  white  jade,2  then  another  jasper  pendant.  All 
these  objects  were  ranged  with  evident  intention  en  suite , 
forming  a  straight  line  which  coincided  exactly  with 
one  of  the  diagonals  of  the  chamber,  running  from 
north-west  to  south-east.  In  one  of  the  corners  of  the 
chamber  were  found   101  axe-heads  in  jade,  jadite,  and 

1  See  "  Revue  Archeologique,"  t.  xii.,  1865,  "  Fouilles  de  Rene" 
Galles." 

2  Jade  is  not  found  in  the  native  state  in  Europe,  nor  nearer  than 
China. 

63 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

fibrolite.  There  were  no  traces  of  bones  or  cinders,  no 
funerary  urn  ;  the  structure  was  a  cenotaph.  "Are 
we  not  here,"  asks  Bertrand,  "  in  presence  of  some 
ceremony  relating  to  the  practices  of  magic  ?" 

Chiromancy  at  Gavr'inis 

In  connexion  with  the  great  sepulchral  monument 
of  Gavr'inis  a  very  curious  observation  was  made  by 


Stones  from  Brittany  sculptured  with  Footprints,  Axes, 

"  Finger-markings,"  &c. 

(Sergi) 

M.  Albert  Maitre,  an  inspector  of  the  Mus6e  des  Anti- 
ques Nationales.  There  were  found  here — as  com- 
monly in  other  megalithic  monuments  in  Ireland  and 
Scotland — a  number  of  stones  sculptured  with  a  singular 
and  characteristic  design  in  waving  and  concentric  lines. 
Now  if  the  curious  lines  traced  upon  the  human  hand 
at  the  roots  and  tips  of  the  fingers  be  examined  under 
a  lens,  it  will  be  found  that  they  bear  an  exact  resem- 
blance to  these  designs  of  megalithic  sculpture.  One 
seems  almost  like  a  cast  of  the  other.  These  lines  on 
the  human  hand  are  so  distinct  and  peculiar  that,  as  is 
well  known,  they  have  been  adopted  as  a  method  of 
identification  of  criminals.  Can  this  resemblance  be 
64 


HOLED  STONES 

the  result  of  chance  ?  Nothing  like  these  peculiar 
assemblages  of  sculptured  lines  has  ever  been  found 
except  in  connexion  with  these  monuments.  Have  we 
not  here  a  reference  to  chiromancy — a  magical  art  much 
practised  in  ancient  and  even  in  modern  times  ?  The 
hand  as  a  symbol  of  power  was  a  well-known  magical 
emblem,  and  has  entered  largely  even  into  Christian 
symbolism — note,  for  instance,  the  great  hand  sculptured 
on  the  under  side  of  one  of  the  arms  of  the  Cross  of 
Muiredach  at  Monasterboice. 


Holed  Stones 

Another  singular  and  as  yet  unexplained  feature 
which  appears  in  many  of  these  monuments,  from 
Western  Europe  to 
India,  is  the  presence 
of  a  small  hole  bored 
through  one  of  the 
stones  composing  the 
chamber.  Was  it  an 
aperture  intended  for 
the  spirit  of  the  dead  ? 
or    for     offerings     to 


Dolmen  at  Trie,  France 
(After  Gailhabaud) 


them  ?  or  the  channel  through  which  revelations  from 
the  spirit-world  were  supposed  to  come  to  a  priest  or 
magician  ?  or  did  it   partake  of  all   these  characters  ? 

Holed  stones,  not 


j  forming  part  of  a 
dolmen,  are,  of 
course,  among  the 
commonest  relics 
of  the  ancient  cult, 
and  are  still  vene- 
rated and  used  in 
practices  connected 
65 


Dolmens  in  the  Deccan,  India 
{After  Meadows-Taylor) 

E 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

with   child-bearing,    &c.      Here  we   are  doubtless  to 
interpret  the  emblem  as  a  symbol  of  sex. 

Stone-Worship 

Besides  the  heavenly  bodies,  we  find  that  rivers,  trees, 
mountains,  and  stones  were  all  objects  of  veneration 
among  this  primitive  people.  Stone-worship  was  par- 
ticularly common,  and  is  not  so  easily  explained  as  the 
worship  directed  toward  objects  possessing  movement 
and  vitality.  Possibly  an  explanation  of  the  veneration 
attaching  to  great  and  isolated  masses  of  unhewn  stone 
may  be  found  in  their  resemblance  to  the  artificial 
dolmens  and  cromlechs.1  No  superstition  has  proved 
more  enduring.  In  a.d.  452  we  find  the  Synod  of 
Aries  denouncing  those  who  "venerate  trees  and  wells 
and  stones,"  and  the  denunciation  was  repeated  by 
Charlemagne,  and  by  numerous  Synods  and  Councils 
down  to  recent  times.  Yet  a  drawing,  here  reproduced, 
which  was  lately  made  on  the  spot  by  Mr.  Arthur  Bell, 
shows  this  very  act  of  worship  still  in  full  force  in  Brittany, 
and  shows  the  symbols  and  the  sacerdotal  organisation 
of  Christianity  actually  pressed  into  the  service  of  this 
immemorial  paganism.  According  to  Mr.  Bell,  the 
clergy  take  part  in  these  performances  with  much 
reluctance,  but  are  compelled  to  do  so  by  the  force  of 
local  opinion.  Holy  wells,  the  water  of  which  is  sup- 
posed to  cure  diseases,  are  still  very  common  in  Ireland, 

1  Small  stones,  crystals,  and  gems  were,  however,  also  venerated. 
The  celebrated  Black  Stone  of  Pergamos  was  the  subject  of  an  embassy 
from  Rome  to  that  city  in  the  time  of  the  Second  Punic  War,  the 
Sibylline  Books  having  predicted  victory  to  its  possessors.  It  was 
brought  to  Rome  with  great  rejoicings  in  the  year  205.  It  is  stated 
to  have  been  about  the  size  of  a  man's  fist,  and  was  probably  a 
meteorite.  Compare  the  myth  in  Hesiod  which  relates  how  Kronos 
devoured  a  stone  in  the  belief  that  it  was  his  offspring,  Zeus.  It  was 
then  possible  to  mistake  a  stone  for  a  god. 
66 


u     — 

o     % 


CUP-AND^RING  MARKINGS 

and  the  cult  of  the  waters  of  Lourdes  may,  in  spite  of 
its  adoption  by  the  Church,  be  mentioned  as  a  notable 
case  in  point  on  the  Continent. 

Cup-and'Ring  Markings 

Another  singular  emblem,  upon  the  meaning  of  which 
no  light  has  yet  been  thrown,  occurs  frequently  in  con- 


Cup-and-ring  Markings  from  Scotland 
(JJter  Sir  J.  Simpson) 

nexion  with  megalithic  monuments.  The  accompany- 
ing illustrations  show  examples  ot  it.  Cup-shaped 
hollows  are  made  in  the  surface  of  the  stone,  these  are 
often  surrounded  with  concentric  rings,  and  from  the 
cup  one  or  more  radial  lines  are  drawn  to  a  point  out- 
side the  circumference  of  the  rings.  Occasionally  a 
system  of  cups  are  joined  by  these  lines,  but  more  fre- 
quently they  end  a  little  way  outside  the  widest  of  the 
rings.  These  strange  markings  are  found  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  in  Brittany,  and  at  various  places  in 

67 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

India,  where  they  are  called  mahadSos.1  I  have  also 
found  a  curious  example — for  such  it  appears  to  be— -in 
Dupaix'  "  Monuments  of  New  Spain."  It  is  repro- 
duced in  Lord  Kingsborough's  "  Antiquities  of  Mexico," 
vol.  iv.  On  the  circular  top  of  a  cylindrical  stone, 
known  as  the  "  Triumphal  Stone,"  is  carved  a  central 
cup,  with  nine  concentric  circles  round  it,  and  a  duct  or 
channel  cut  straight  from  the  cup  through  all  the 
circles  to  the  rim.  Except  that  the  design  here  is  richly 
decorated  and  accurately  drawn,  it  closely  resembles  a 
typical  European  cup-and-ring  marking.  That  these 
markings  mean  something,  and  that,  wherever  they  are 
found,  they  mean  the  same  thing,  can  hardly  be  doubted, 
but  what  that  meaning  is  remains  yet  a  puzzle  to  anti- 
quarians. The  guess  may  perhaps  be  hazarded  that 
they  are  diagrams  or  plans  of  a  megalithic  sepulchre. 
The  central  hollow  represents  the  actual  burial-place. 
The  circles  are  the  standing  stones,  fosses,  and  ramparts 
which  often  surrounded  it  ;  and  the  line  or  duct  drawn 
from  the  centre  outwards  represents  the  subterranean 
approach  to  the  sepulchre.  The  apparent  "  avenue  " 
intention  of  the  duct  is  clearly  brought  out  in  the 
varieties  given  below,  which  I  take  from  Simpson.     As 

the  sepulchre  was  also  a 
holy  place  or  shrine,  the 
occurrence  of  a  represen- 
tation of  it  among  other 
carvings  of  a  sacred  charac- 
ter is  natural  enough  ;  it 

Varieties  of  Cup-and-nng  ^    seem  SymboHcally 

Markings  .     ,.  .    /      .  .     J 

to  indicate  that  the  place 
was  holy  ground.  How  far  this  suggestion  might 
apply  to  the  Mexican  example  I  am  unable  to 
say. 

1  See  Sir  J.  Simpson's  "Archaic  Sculpturings,"  1867. 
68 


THE  TUMULUS  AT  NEW  GRANGE 

The  Tumulus  at  New  Grange 

One  of  the  most  important  and  richly  sculptured  of 
European  megalithic  monuments  is  the  great  chambered 
tumulus  of  New  Grange,  on  the  northern  bank  of  the 
Boyne,  in  Ireland.  This  tumulus,  and  the  others  which 
occur  in  its  neighbourhood,  appear  in  ancient  Irish 
mythical  literature  in  two  different  characters,  the  union 
of  which  is  significant.  They  are  regarded  on  the  one 
hand  as  the  dwelling-places  of  the  Sidhe  (pronounced 
Shee),  or  Fairy  Folk,  who  represent,  probably,  the  deities 
of  the  ancient  Irish,  and  they  are  also,  traditionally,  the 
burial-places  of  the  Celtic  High  Kings  of  pagan  Ireland. 
The  story  of  the  burial  of  King  Cormac,  who  was 
supposed  to  have  heard  of  the  Christian  faith  long 
before  it  was  actually  preached  in  Ireland  by  St.  Patrick 
and  who  ordered  that  he  should  not  be  buried  at  the 
royal  cemetery  by  the  Boyne,  on  account  of  its  pagan 
associations,  points  to  the  view  that  this  place  was  the 
centre  of  a  pagan  cult  involving  more  than  merely  the 
interment  of  royal  personages  in  its  precincts.  Un- 
fortunately these  monuments  are  not  intact  ;  they  were 
opened  and  plundered  by  the  Danes  in  the  ninth 
century,1  but  enough  evidence  remains  to  show  that 
they  were  sepulchral  in  their  origin,  and  were  also 
associated  with  the  cult  of  a  primitive  religion.  The 
most  important  of  them,  the  tumulus  of  New  Grange, 
has  been  thoroughly  explored  and  described  by  Mr. 
George  Coffey,  keeper  of  the  collection  of  Celtic  anti- 
quities in  the  National  Museum,  Dublin.2  It  appears 
from  the  outside  like  a  large  mound,  or  knoll,  now  over- 
grown with  bushes.     It  measures  about  280  feet  across, 

1  The  fact  is  recorded  in  the  "  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters " 
under  the  date  861,  and  in  the  "Annals  of  Ulster  "  under  862. 

2  See  "  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,"  vol.  xxx.  pt.  i., 
1892. 

69 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

at  its  greatest  diameter,  and  is  about  44  feet  in  height. 
Outside  it  there  runs  a  wide  circle  of  standing  stones 
originally,  it  would  seem,  thirty-five  in  number.  Inside 
this  circle  is  a  ditch  and  rampart,  and  on  top  of  this 
rampart  was  laid  a  circular  curb  of  great  stones  8  to  10 
feet  long,  laid  on  edge,  and  confining  what  has  proved  to 
be  a  huge  mound  of  loose  stones,  now  overgrown,  as 
we  have  said,  with  grass  and  bushes.  It  is  in  the  in- 
terior of  this  mound  that  the  interest  of  the  monument 
lies.  Towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  some 
workmen  who  were  getting  road-material  from  the 
mound  came  across  the  entrance  to  a  passage  which  led 
into  the  interior,  and  was  marked  by  the  fact  that  the 
boundary  stone  below  it  is  richly  carved  with  spirals  and 
lozenges.  This  entrance  faces  exactly  south-east.  The 
passage  is  formed  of  upright  slabs  of  unhewn  stone 
roofed  with  similar  slabs,  and  varies  from  nearly  5  feet 
to  7  feet  10  inches  in  height  ;  it  is  about  3  feet  wide,  and 
runs  for  62  feet  straight  into  the  heart  of  the  mound. 
Here  it  ends  in  a  cruciform  chamber,  20  feet  high,  the 
roof,  a  kind  of  dome,  being  formed  of  large  flat  stones, 
overlapping  inwards  till  they  almost  meet  at  the  top,  where 
a  large  flat  stone  covers  all.  In  each  of  the  three  re- 
cesses of  the  cruciform  chamber  there  stands  a  large 
stone  basin,  or  rude  sarcophagus,  but  no  traces  of  any 
burial  now  remain. 

Symbolic  Carvings  at  New  Grange 

The  stones  are  all  raw  and  undressed,  and  were 
selected  for  their  purpose  from  the  river-bed  and  else- 
where close  by.  On  their  flat  surfaces,  obtained  by 
splitting  slabs  from  the  original  quarries,  are  found  the 
carvings  which  form  the  unique  interest  of  this  strange 
monument.  Except  for  the  large  stone  with  spiral 
carvings  and  one  other  at  the  entrance  to  the  mound, 
70 


(fl    £ 


THE  SHIP  SYMBOL  AT  NEW  GRANGE 

the  intention  of  these  sculptures  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  decorative,  except  in  a  very  rude  and  primitive 
sense.  There  is  practically  no  attempt  to  adapt  the 
decoration  to  a  given  surface — to  cover  that  surface 
with  a  system  of  ornament  appropriate  to  its  size  and 
shape.  The  designs  are,  as  it  were,  scribbled  upon  the 
walls  anyhow  and  anywhere.1  Among  them  everywhere 
the  spiral  is  prominent.  The  resemblance  of  some  of 
these  carvings  to  the  supposed  finger-markings  of  the 
stones  at  Gavr'inis  is  very  remarkable.  Triple  and 
double  spirals  are  also  found,  as  well  as  lozenges  and 
zigzags.  A  singular  carving  representing  what  looks 
like  a  palm-branch  or  fern-leaf  is  found  in  the  west 
recess.  The  drawing  of  this  object  is  naturalistic,  and 
it  is  hard  to  interpret  it,  as  Mr.  Coffey  is  inclined  to  do, 
as  merely  a  piece  of  so-called  "  herring-bone  "  pattern. 
A  similar  palm-leaf  design,  but  with  the  ribs  arranged 
at  right  angles  to  the  central  axis,  is  found  in  the 
neighbouring  tumulus  of  Dowth,  at  Loughcrew,  and 
in  combination  with  a  solar  emblem,  the  swastika,  on  a 
small  altar  in  the  Pyrenees,  figured  by  Bertrand. 

The  Ship  Symbol  at  New  Grange 

Another  remarkable  and,  as  far  as  Ireland  goes, 
unique  figure  is  found  sculptured  in  the  west  recess  at 
New  Grange.  It  has  been  interpreted  by  various  critics 
as  a  mason's  mark,  a  piece  of  Phoenician  writing,  a 
group  of  numerals,  and  finally  (and  no  doubt  correctly) 
by  Mr.  George  Coffey  as  a  rude  representation  of  a  ship 
with  men  on  board  and  uplifted  sail.  It  is  noticeable 
that  just  above  it  is  a  small  circle,  forming,  apparently, 
part  of  the  design. 

1  It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  the  decoration  was,  certainly 
in  some,  and  perhaps  in  all  cases,  carried  out  before  the  stones  were 
placed  in  position.     This  is  also  the  case  at  Gavr'inis. 

7i 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  significance  of  this  marking,  as  we  shall  see,  is 
possibly  very  great.     It  has  been  discovered  that  on  cer- 
£■*%  tain  stones  in  the  tumulus  of  Loc- 

mariaker,  in  Brittany,1  there  occur  a 
\  J  t '*  f$  I.  number  of  very  similar  figures,  one 
I  /      i  •{  |  /  Ijjj  of  them  showing  the  circle  in  much 


ill  fl 


f  I  ■  I  *<       the  same  relative  position   as  at 

$Jw**'"f'!h""*m"  New  Grange.    The  axe,  an  Egyp- 

Solar  Ship  (with  Sail  ?)    tian  hieroglyph  for  godhead  and 

from  New  Grange,    a  well-known  magical  emblem,  is 

Ireland  ajso    represented    on    this    stone. 

Again,  in  a  brochure  by  Dr.  Oscar 

Montelius  on  the  rock-sculptures  of 

Sweden 2  we  find  a  reproduction  (also 

given  in  Du  Chaillu's  "  Viking  Age  ")  & 

of  a    rude    rock-carving    showing    a 

number  of  ships  with  men  on  board,  Solar  Ship  from  Loc- 

,     .         .     .    r  ,  ,  '     manaker,  Brittany 

and  the  circle  quartered  by  a  cross —     (After  Ferguson) 

unmistakably  a   solar  emblem — just 

above  one  of  them.  That 
these  ships  (which,  like 
the  Irish  example,  are 
often  so  summarily  re- 
presented as  to  be  mere 
symbols  which  no  one 
could  identifiy  as  a  ship 
Solar  Ship  from  Hallande,  Sweden  were  the  clue  not  given 
{After  Montelius)  by    Qther    and    mQre 

elaborate  representations)  were  drawn  so  frequently  in 
conjunction  with  the  solar  disk  merely  for  amusement 
or  for  a  purely  decorative  object  seems  to  me  most 

1  "  Proc.  Royal  Irish  Acad.,"  vol.  viii.  1863,  p.  400,  and  G.  Coffey, 
op.  at.  p.  33. 

2  "  Les  Sculptures  de  Rochers  de  la  Suede,"  read  at  the  Prehistoric 
Congress,  Stockholm,  1874  ;  and  see  G.  Coffey,  op.  cit.  p.  35. 

72 


THE  SHIP  SYMBOL  IN  EGYPT 

improbable.     In    the   days    of  the   megalithic   folk   a 
sepulchral  monument,  the  very  focus  of  religious  ideas, 
would  hardly  have  been  covered 
with  idle  and  meaningless  scrawls. 
"  Man,"  as  Sir  J.  Simpson  has  well 
said,  "  has  ever  conjoined  together 
things  sacred  and  things    sepul- 
chral."    Nor  do  these  scrawls,  in     Ship  (with  Sail  ?)  from 
the  majority  of  instances,  show  Rvxo 

any  glimmering  of  a  decorative       VM  Du  CAai/Zu) 
intention.     But  if  they  had  a  symbolic  intention,  what 
is  it  that  they  symbolise  ? 

We  have  here  come,  I  believe,  into  a  higher  order  of 

ideas  than  that  of  magic.     The  suggestion  I  have  to 

make  may  seem  a  daring  one ;  yet,  as  we  shall  see, 

it  is  quite  in  line  with  the 

V^      (l        Ml)       Af  resu^ts    °f  certain   other 

*^*».^s  i...  ,., — *ii~—^'       investigations  as  to    the 

Ship  Carving  (with  Solar  Emblem  ?)  origin    and  character   of 

from  Scania,  Sweden  the     megalithic     culture. 

{After  Du  Chaillu)  jf  accepted)   it  will   cer_ 

tainly  give  much  greater  definiteness  to  our  views  of 
the  relations  of  the  Megalithic  People  with  North 
Africa,  as  well  as  of  the  true  origin  of  Druidism  and  of 
the  doctrines  associated  with  that  system.  1  think  it 
may  be  taken  as  established  that  the  frequent  conjunc- 
tion of  the  ship  with  the  solar  disk  on  rock-sculptures 
in  Sweden,  Ireland,  and  Brittany  cannot  be  fortuitous. 
No  one,  for  instance,  looking  at  the  example  from 
Hallande  given  above,  can  doubt  that  the  two  objects 
are  intentionally  combined  in  one  design. 

The  Ship  Symbol  in  Egypt 

Now  this  symbol  of  the  ship,  with  or  without  the  actual 
portrayal  of  the  solar  emblem,  is  of  very  ancient  and 

73 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

very  common  occurrence  in  the  sepulchral  art  of  Egypt. 
It  is  connected  with  the  worship  of  Ra,  which  came  in  fully 
4000  years  B.C.  Its  meaning  as  an  Egyptian  symbol  is 
well  known.  The  ship  was  called  the  Boat  of  the  Sun. 
It  was  the  vessel  in  which  the  Sun-god  performed  his 
journeys  ;  in  particular,  the  journey  which  he  made 
nightly  to  the  shores  of  the  Other-world,  bearing  with 
him  in  his  bark  the  souls  of  the  beatified  dead.     The 


Egyptian  Solar  Bark,  XXII  Dynasty 
(British  Museum) 

Sun-god,  Ra,  is  sometimes  represented  by  a  disk,  some- 
times by  other  emblems,  hovering  above  the  vessel  or 
contained  within  it.  Any  one  who  will  look  over  the 
painted  or  sculptured  sarcophagi  in  the  British  Museum 
will  find  a  host  of  examples.  Sometimes  he  will  find 
representations  of  the  life-giving  rays  of  Ra  pouring  down 
upon  the  boat  and  its  occupants.  Now,  in  one  of  the 
Swedish  rock-carvings  of  ships  at  Backa,  Bohuslan,  given 
by  Montelius,  a  ship  crowded  with  figures  is  shown 
beneath  a  disk  with  three  descending  rays,  and  again 
another  ship  with  a  two-rayed  sun  above  it.  It  may 
be  added  that  in  the  tumulus  of  Dowth,  which  is  close 
to  that  of  New  Grange  and  is  entirely  of  the  same  cha- 
racter and  period,  rayed  figures  and  quartered  circles, 
obviously  solar  emblems,  occur  abundantly,  as  also  at 
Loughcrew  and  other  places  in  Ireland,  though  no 
other  ship  figure  has  yet  been  identified  there. 
74 


Khnemu  and  attendant  deities 
{British  Museum) 


THE  SHIP  SYMBOL  IN  EGYPT 

In  Egypt  the  solar  boat  is  sometimes  represented  as 
containing  the  solar  emblem  alone,  sometimes  it  contains 
the  figure  of  a  god  with  attendant  deities,  sometimes  it 
contains  a  crowd  of  pas-  q 
sengers  representing  human 
souls,  and  sometimes  the 
figure  of  a  single  corpse  on 

a  bier.  The  megalithic  carv-  Egyptian  Solar  Bark,  with  god 
ings  also  sometimes  show 
the  solar  emblem  and  some- 
times not  ;  the  boats  are  sometimes  filled  with  figures 
and  are  sometimes  empty.  When  a  symbol  has  once 
been  accepted  and  understood,  any  conventional  or 
summary  representation   of  it   is  sufficient.     I    take  it 

that  the  complete  form  of 
the  megalithic  symbol  is 
that  of  a  boat  with  figures 
in  it  and  with  the  solar 
emblem  overhead.  These 
figures,  assuming  the  fore- 
Egyptian  Bark,  with  figure  of  Ra     going     interpretation    of 
holding  an  Ankh,  enclosed  in     the  design  to  be  correct, 
Solar  Disk.     XIX  Dynasty  must    clearly    be    taken 

{British  Museum)  for    representations     of 

the  dead  on  their  way  to  the  Other-world.  They 
cannot  be  deities,  for  representations  of  the  divine 
powers  under  human  aspect  were  quite  unknown  to 
the  Megalithic  People,  even  after  the  coming  of  the 
Celts — they  first  occur  in  Gaul  under  Roman  influence. 
But  if  these  figures  represent  the  dead,  then  we  have 
clearly  before  us  the  origin  of  the  so-called  "  Celtic  " 
doctrine  of  immortality.  The  carvings  in  question  are 
pre-Celtic.  They  are  found  where  no  Celts  ever  pene- 
trated. Yet  they  point  to  the  existence  of  just  that 
Other-world  doctrine  which,  from  the  time  of  Caesar 

75 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

downwards,  has  been  associated  with  Celtic  Druidism, 
and  this  doctrine  was  distinctively  Egyptian. 

The  "Navetas" 

In  connexion  with  this  subject  I  may  draw  attention  to 
the  theory  of  Mr.  W.  C.  Borlase  that  the  typical  design 
of  an  Irish  dolmen  was  intended  to  represent  a  ship. 
In  Minorca  there  are  analogous  structures,  there  popu- 
larly called  navetas  (ships),  so  distinct  is  the  resemblance. 
But,  he  adds,  "long  before  the  caves  and  navetas  of 
Minorca  were  known  to  me  I  had  formed  the  opinion 
that  what  I  have  so  frequently  spoken  of  as  the £  wedge- 
shape  '  observable  so  universally  in  the  ground-plans  of 
dolmens  was  due  to  an  original  conception  of  a  ship. 
From  sepulchral  tumuli  in  Scandinavia  we  know  actual 
vessels  have  on  several  occasions  been  disinterred.  In 
cemeteries  of  the  Iron  Age,  in  the  same  country,  as 
well  as  on  the  more  southern  Baltic  coasts,  the  ship 
was  a  recognised  form  of  sepulchral  enclosure."  *  If 
Mr.  Borlase's  view  is  correct,  we  have  here  a  very 
strong  corroboration  of  the  symbolic  intention  which 
I  attribute  to  the  solar  ship-carvings  of  the  Megalithic 
People. 

The  Ship  Symbol  in  Babylonia 

The  ship  symbol,  it  may  be  remarked,  can  be  traced 
to  about  4000  b.c.  in  Babylonia,  where  every  deity  had 
his  own  special  ship  (that  of  the  god  Sin  was  called 
the  Ship  of  Light),  his  image  being  carried  in  pro- 
cession on  a  litter  formed  like  a  ship.  This  is  thought 
by  Jastrow 2  to  have  originated  at  a  time  when  the  sacred 
cities  of  Babylonia  were  situated  on  the  Persian  Gulf, 
and  when  religious  processions  were  often  carried  out 
by  water. 

1  "  Dolmens  of  Ireland,"  pp.  701-704. 
8  "  The  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria." 
76 


THE  ANKH  ON  MEGALITHIC  CARVINGS 

The  Symbol  of  the  Feet 

Yet  there  is  reason  to  think  that  some  of  these  sym- 
bols were  earlier  than  any  known  mythology,  and  were, 
so  to  say,  mythologised  differently  by  different  peoples, 
who  got  hold  of  them  from  this  now  unknown  source. 
A  remarkable  instance  is  that  of  the  symbol  of  the  Two 
Feet.  In  Egypt  the  Feet  of  Osiris  formed  one  of  the 
portions  into  which  his  body  was  cut  up,  in 
the  well-known  myth.  They  were  a  symbol 
of  possession  or  of  visitation.  "I  have  come 
upon  earth,"  says  the  "Book  of  the  Dead" 
(ch.  xvii.), "  and  with  my  two  feet  have  taken 
possession.  I  am  Tmu."  Now  this  symbol  Feetsymb0l 
of  the  feet  or  footprint  is  very  widespread. 
It  is  found  in  India,  as  the  print  of  the  foot  of  Buddha,1 
it  is  found  sculptured  on  dolmens  in  Brittany,2  and  it 
occurs  in  rock-carvings  in  Scandinavia.3  In  Ireland  it 
passes  for  the  footprints  of  St.  Patrick  or  St.  Columba. 
Strangest  of  all,  it  is  found  unmistakably  in  Mexico.4 
Tyler,  in  his  "Primitive  Culture"  (ii.  p.  197)  refers 
to  "  the  Aztec  ceremony  at  the  Second  Festival  of  the 
Sun  God,  Tezcatlipoca,  when  they  sprinkled  maize  flour 
before  his  sanctuary,  and  his  high  priest  watched  till 
he  beheld  the  divine  footprints,  and  then  shouted  to 
announce,  '  Our  Great  God  is  come.'  " 

The  Ankh  on  Megalithic  Carvings 

There  is  very  strong  evidence  of  the  connexion  of 
the   Megalithic  People  with  North  Africa.     Thus,  as 

1  A  good  example  from  Amravati  (after  Fergusson)  is  given  by 
Bertrand,  "  Rel.  des  G.,"  p.  389. 

2  Sergi,  "The  Mediterranean  Race,"  p.  313. 

3  At  Lokeberget,  Bohuslan  ;  see  Montelius,  op.  tit. 

4  See  Lord  Kingsborough's  "  Antiquities  of  Mexico,"  passim,  and 
the  Humboldt  fragment  of  Mexican  painting  (reproduced  in  Church- 
ward's  "  Signs  and  Symbols  of  Primordial  Man  "). 

77 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Sergi  points  out,  many  signs  (probably  numerical)  found 
on  ivory  tablets  in  the  cemetery  at  Naqada  discovered 
by  Flinders  Petrie  are  to  be  met  with  on 
European  dolmens.  Several  later  Egyptian 
hieroglyphic  signs,  including  the  famous  Ankh^ 
or  crux  ansata^  the  symbol  of  vitality  or  resurrec- 
tion, are  also  found  in  megalithic  carvings.1 
From  these  correspondences  Letourneau  drew 
the  conclusion  "  that  the  builders  of  our  mega- 
lithic monuments  came  from  the  South,  and  were 
related  to  the  races  of  North  Africa."2 

Evidence  from  Language 

Approaching  the  subject  from  the  linguistic  side, 
Rhys  and  Brynmor  Jones  find  that  the  African  origin 
— at  least  proximately — of  the  primitive  population  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  is  strongly  suggested.  It  is 
here  shown  that  the  Celtic  languages  preserve  in  their 
syntax  the  Hamitic,  and  especially  the  Egyptian  type.3 

Egyptian  and  " Celtic'*  Ideas  of  Immortality 

The  facts  at  present  known  do  not,  I  think,  justify 
us  in  framing  any  theory  as  to  the  actual  historical 
relation  of  the  dolmen-builders  of  Western  Europe  with 
the  people  who  created  the  wonderful  religion  and 
civilisation  of  ancient  Egypt.  But  when  we  consider 
all  the  lines  of  evidence  that  converge  in  this  direction 
it  seems  clear  that  there  was  such  a  relation.  Egypt 
was  the  classic  land  of  religious  symbolism.     It  gave  to 

1  See  Sergi,  op.  cit.  p.  290,  for  the  Ankh  on  a  French  dolmen. 

2  "  Bulletin  de  la  Soc.  d'Anthropologie,"  Paris,  April  1893. 

3  "The  Welsh  People,"  pp.  616-664,  where  the  subject  is  fully 
discussed  in  an  appendix  by  Professor  J.  Morris  Jones.  "  The  pre- 
Aryan  idioms  which  still  live  in  Welsh  and  Irish  were  derived  from  a 
language  allied  to  Egyptian  and  the  Berber  tongues." 

78 


IDEAS  OF  IMMORTALITY 

Europe  the  most  beautiful  and  most  popular  of  all  its 
religious  symbols,  that  of  the  divine  mother  and  child.1 
I  believe  that  it  also  gave  to  the  primitive  inhabitants  of 
Western  Europe  the  profound  symbol  of  the  voyaging 
spirits  guided  to  the  world  of  the  dead  by  the  God  of 
Light. 

The  religion  of  Egypt,  above  that  of  any  people 
whose  ideas  we  know  to  have  been  developed  in  times 
so  ancient,  centred  on  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life. 
The  palatial  and  stupendous  tombs,  the  elaborate  ritual, 
the  imposing  mythology,  the  immense  exaltation  of  the 
priestly  caste,  all  these  features  of  Egyptian  culture 
were  intimately  connected  with  their  doctrine  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul. 

To  the  Egyptian  the  disembodied  soul  was  no 
shadowy  simulacrum,  as  the  classical  nations  believed — 
the  future  life  was  a  mere  prolongation  of  the  present ; 
the  just  man,  when  he  had  won  his  place  in  it,  found 
himself  among  his  relatives,  his  friends,  his  workpeople, 
with  tasks  and  enjoyments  very  much  like  those  of 
earth.  The  doom  of  the  wicked  was  annihilation  ;  he 
fell  a  victim  to  the  invisible  monster  called  the  Eater  of 
the  Dead. 

Now  when  the  classical  nations  first  began  to  take 
an  interest  in  the  ideas  of  the  Celts  the  thing  that  prin- 
cipally struck  them  was  the  Celtic  belief  in  immor- 
tality, which  the  Gauls  said  was  "  handed  down  by  the 
Druids."  The  classical  nations  believed  in  immor- 
tality ;  but  what  a  picture  does  Homer,  the  Bible  of 
the  Greeks,  give  of  the  lost,  degraded,  dehumanised 
creatures  which  represented  the  departed  souls  of  men  ! 
Take,  as  one  example,  the  description  of  the  spirits  of 
the  suitors  slain  by  Odysseus  as  Hermes  conducts  them 
to  the  Underworld  : 

1  Flinders  Petrie,  "  Egypt  and  Israel,"  pp.  137,  899. 

79 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

"  Now  were  summoned  the  souls  of  the  dead  by  Cyllenian 

Hermes.  .  .  . 
Touched  by  the  wand  they  awoke,  and  obeyed  him  and  followed 

him,  squealing, 
Even  as  bats  in  the  dark,  mysterious  depths  of  a  cavern 
Squeal  as  they  flutter  around,  should  one  from  the  cluster  be  fallen 
Where  from  the  rock  suspended  they  hung,  all  clinging  together  ; 
So  did  the  souls  flock  squealing,  behind  him,  as  Hermes  the  Helper 
Guided  them  down  to  the  gloom  through  dank  and  mouldering 

pathways."  * 

The  classical  writers  felt  rightly  that  the  Celtic  idea 
of  immortality  was  something  altogether  different  from 
this.  It  was  both  loftier  and  more  realistic  ;  it  implied 
a  true  persistence  of  the  living  man,  as  he  was  at  present, 
in  all  his  human  relations.  They  noted  with  surprise 
that  the  Celt  would  lend  money  on  a  promissory  note  for 
repayment  in  the  next  world.8  That  is  an  absolutely 
Egyptian  conception.  And  this  very  analogy  occurred 
to  Diodorus  in  writing  of  the  Celtic  idea  of  immortality 
— it  was  like  nothing  that  he  knew  of  out  of  Egypt.3 

The  Doctrine  of  Transmigration 

Many  ancient  writers  assert  that  the  Celtic  idea  of 
immortality  embodied  the  Oriental  conception  of  the 
transmigration  of  souls,  and  to  account  for  this  the 
hypothesis  was  invented  that  they  had  learned  the 
doctrine  from  Pythagoras,  who  represented  it  in  classical 
antiquity.  Thus  Caesar  :  "  The  principal  point  of  their 
[the  Druids']  teaching  is  that  the  soul  does  not  perish, 
and  that  after  death  it  passes  from  one  body  into 
another."  And  Diodorus  :  "Among  them  the  doctrine 
of  Pythagoras  prevails,  according  to  which  the  souls  of 
men  are  immortal,  and  after  a  fixed  term  recommence 

1  I  quote  from  Mr.  H.  B.  Cotterill's  beautiful  hexameter  version. 

2  Valerius  Maximus  (about  a.d.  30)  and  other  classical  writers 
mention  this  practice. 

8  Book  V. 
80 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  TRANSMIGRATION 

to  live,  taking  upon  themselves  a  new  body."  Now 
traces  of  this  doctrine  certainly  do  appear  in  Irish 
legend.  Thus  the  Irish  chieftain,  Mongan,  who  is  an 
historical  personage,  and  whose  death  is  recorded  about 
a.d.  625,  is  said  to  have  made  a  wager  as  to  the 
place  of  death  of  a  king  named  Fothad,  slain  in  a  battle 
with  the  mythical  hero  Finn  mac  Cumhal  in  the  third 
century.  He  proves  his  case  by  summoning  to  his  aid 
a  revenant  from  the  Other-world,  Keelta,  who  was  the 
actual  slayer  of  Fothad,  and  who  describes  correctly 
where  the  tomb  is  to  be  found  and  what  were  its 
contents.  He  begins  his  tale  by  saying  to  Mongan, 
"  We  were  with  thee,"  and  then,  turning  to  the  assembly, 
he  continues  :  "We  were  with  Finn,  coming  from 
Alba.  .  .  ."  "Hush,"  says  Mongan,  "it  is  wrong  of 
thee  to  reveal  a  secret."  The  secret  is,  of  course,  that 
Mongan  was  a  reincarnation  of  Finn.1  But  the  evidence 
on  the  whole  shows  that  the  Celts  did  not  hold  this 
doctrine  at  all  in  the  same  way  as  Pythagoras  and  the 
Orientals  did.  Transmigration  was  not,  with  them,  part 
of  the  order  of  things.  It  might  happen,  but  in  general 
it  did  not ;  the  new  body  assumed  by  the  dead  clothed 
them  in  another,  not  in  this  world,  and  so  far  as  we 
can  learn  from  any  ancient  authority,  there  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  any  idea  of  moral  retribution 
connected  with  this  form  of  the  future  life.  It  was  not 
so  much  an  article  of  faith  as  an  idea  which  haunted  the 
imagination,  and  which,  as  Mongan's  caution  indicates, 
ought  not  to  be  brought  into  clear  light. 

However  it  may  have  been  conceived,  it  is  certain 
that  the  belief  in  immortality  was  the  basis  of  Celtic 
Druidism."     Caesar  affirms  this  distinctly,  and  declares 

1  De  Jubainville,  "Irish  Mythological  Cycle,''  p.  191  sqq. 

2  The  etymology  of  the  word  "Druid"  is  still  an  unsolved 
problem.     It  has  been  suggested  that  the  latter  part  of  the  word 

f  8l 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  doctrine  to  have  been  fostered  by  the  Druids  rather 
for  the  promotion  of  courage  than  for  purely  religious 
reasons.  An  intense  Other-world  faith,  such  as  that 
held  by  the  Celts,  is  certainly  one  of  the  mightiest  of 
agencies  in  the  hands  of  a  priesthood  who  hold  the 
keys  of  that  world.  Now  Druidism  existed  in  the 
British  Islands,  in  Gaul,  and,  in  fact,  so  far  as  we  know, 
wherever  there  was  a  Celtic  race  amid  a  population  of 
dolmen-builders.  There  were  Celts  in  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
but  there  were  no  dolmens  there,  and  there  were  no 
Druids.1  What  is  quite  clear  is  that  when  the  Celts 
got  to  Western  Europe  they  found  there  a  people  with 
a  powerful  priesthood,  a  ritual,  and  imposing  religious 
monuments  ;  a  people  steeped  in  magic  and  mysticism 
and  the  cult  of  the  Underworld.  The  inferences,  as  I 
read  the  facts,  seem  to  be  that  Druidism  in  its  essential 
features  was  imposed  upon  the  imaginative  and  sensitive 
nature  of  the  Celt — the  Celt  with  his  "  extraordinary 
aptitude"  for  picking  up  ideas — by  the  earlier  popula- 
tion of  Western  Europe,  the  Megalithic  People,  while, 
as  held  by  these,  it  stands  in  some  historical  relation, 
which  I  am  not  able  to  pursue  in  further  detail,  with 
the  religious  culture  of  ancient  Egypt.  The  fact 
that  no  Aryan  root  for  the  word  "Druid"  has  been 
discovered   is   significant   in  this   connexion.     If  these 

may  be  connected  with  the  Aryan  root  VID,  which  appears  in 
"wisdom,"  in  the  Latin  videre,  &c,  but  there  is  really  no  more 
evidence  of  this  than  of  the  now  abandoned  conjecture  which  related 
the  syllable  dru  with  the  Greek  drus,  an  oak.  Probably  both  the 
word  and  the  thing  are  relics  of  the  Megalithic  People. 

1  See  Rice  Holmes,  "  Cassar's  Conquest,"  p.  15,  and  pp.  532-536. 
Rhys,  it  may  be  observed,  believes  that  Druidism  was  the  religion  of 
the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  Western  Europe  "from  the  Baltic  to 
Gibraltar"  ("Celtic  Britain,"  p.  73).  But  we  only  know  of  it 
where  Celts  and  dolmen-builders  combined.  Csesar  remarks  of  the 
Germans  that  they  had  no  Druids  and  cared  little  about  sacrificial 
ceremonies. 
82 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  TRANSMIGRATION 

suggestions  have  anything  in  them,  then  the  Megalithic 
People  have  been  brought  a  step  or  two  out  of  the 
atmosphere  of  uncanny  mystery  which  has  surrounded 
them,  and  they  are  shown  to  have  played  a  very  im- 
portant part  in  the  religious  development  of  Western 
Europe,  and  in  preparing  that  part  of  the  world  for  the 
rapid  extension  of  the  special  type  of  Christianity  which 
took  place  in  it.  Bertrand,  in  his  most  interesting 
chapter  on  "L'Irlande  Celtique,"  x  points  out  that  very 
soon  after  the  conversion  of  Ireland  to  Christianity,  we 
find  the  country  covered  with  monasteries,  whose  com- 
plete organisation  seems  to  indicate  that  they  were  really 
Druidic  colleges  transformed  en  masse.  Caesar  has  told 
us  what  these  colleges  were  like  in  Gaul.  They  were 
very  numerous.  In  spite  of  the  severe  study  and 
discipline  involved,  crowds  flocked  into  them  for  the 
sake  of  the  power  wielded  by  the  Druidic  order,  and 
the  civil  immunities  which  its  members  of  all  grades 
enjoyed.  Arts  and  sciences  were  studied  there,  and 
thousands  of  verses  enshrining  the  teachings  of  Druidism 
were  committed  to  memory.  All  this  is  very  like  what 
we  know  of  Irish  Druidism.  Such  an  organisation 
would  pass  into  Christianity  of  the  type  established  in 
Ireland  with  very  little  difficulty.  The  belief  in  magical 
rites  would  survive — early  Irish  Christianity,  as  its 
copious  hagiography  plainly  shows,  was  as  steeped  in 
magical  ideas  as  ever  was  Druidic  paganism.  The 
belief  in  immortality  would  remain,  as  before,  the 
cardinal  doctrine  of  religion.  Above  all  the  supremacy 
of  the  sacerdotal  order  over  the  temporal  power  would 
remain  unimpaired  ;  it  would  still  be  true,  as  Dion 
Chrysostom  said  of  the  Druids,  that  "  it  is  they  who 
command,  and  kings  on  thrones  of  gold,  dwelling  in 

1  "  Rel.  des  Gaulois,"  leijon  xx. 

83 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

splendid    palaces,    are    but    their    ministers,    and    the 
servants  of  their  thought."  * 

Caesar  on  the  Druidic  Culture 

The  religious,  philosophic,  and  scientific  culture 
superintended  by  the  Druids  is  spoken  of  by  Caesar 
with  much  respect.  "They  discuss  and  impart  to  the 
youth,"  he  writes,  "  many  things  respecting  the  stars 
and  their  motions,  respecting  the  extent  of  the  universe 
and  of  our  earth,  respecting  the  nature  of  things,  re- 
specting the  power  and  the  majesty  of  the  immortal 
gods"  (bk.  vi.  14).  We  would  give  much  to  know 
some  particulars  of  the  teaching  here  described.  But 
the  Druids,  though  well  acquainted  with  letters,  strictly 
forbade  the  committal  of  their  doctrines  to  writing  ;  an 
extremely  sagacious  provision,  for  not  only  did  they 
thus  surround  their  teaching  with  that  atmosphere  of 
mystery  which  exercises  so  potent  a  spell  over  the 
human  mind,  but  they  ensured  that  it  could  never  be 
effectively  controverted. 

Human  Sacrifices  in  Gaul 

In  strange  discord,  however,  with  the  lofty  words  of 
Caesar  stands  the  abominable  practice  of  human  sacrifice 
whose  prevalence  he  noted  among  the  Celts.  Prisoners 
and  criminals,  or  if  these  failed  even  innocent  victims, 
probably  children,  were  encased,  numbers  at  a  time,  in 
huge  frames  of  wickerwork,  and  there  burned  alive  to 
win  the  favour  of  the  gods.  The  practice  of  human 
sacrifice  is,  of  course,  not  specially  Druidic — it  is  found 
in  all  parts  both  of  the  Old  and  of  the  New  World  at  a 
certain  stage  of  culture,  and  was  doubtless  a  survival 
from  the  time  of  the  Megalithic  People.  The  fact  that 
it  should  have  continued  in  Celtic  lands  after  an  other- 

1  Quoted  by  Bertrand,  op.  cit.  p.  279. 
84 


Human   Sacrifices   in   Gaul 


84 


HUMAN  SACRIFICES  IN  EGYPT 

wise  fairly  high  state  of  civilisation  and  religious  culture 
had  been  attained  can  be  paralleled  from  Mexico  and 
Carthage,  and  in  both  cases  is  due,  no  doubt,  to  the 
uncontrolled  dominance  of  a  priestly  caste. 

Human  Sacrifices  in  Ireland 

Bertrand  endeavours  to  dissociate  the  Druids  from 
these  practices,  of  which  he  says  strangely  there  is  "  no 
trace "  in  Ireland,  although  there,  as  elsewhere  in 
Celtica,  Druidism  was  all-powerful.  There  is  little 
doubt,  however,  that  in  Ireland  also  human  sacrifices 
at  one  time  prevailed.  In  a  very  ancient  tract,  the 
"  Dinnsenchus,"  preserved  in  the  "  Book  of  Leinster,"  it 
is  stated  that  on  Moyslaught,  "  the  Plain  of  Adoration," 
there  stood  a  great  gold  idol,  Crom  Cruach  (the  Bloody 
Crescent).  To  it  the  Gaels  used  to  sacrifice  children 
when  praying  for  fair  weather  and  fertility — "  it  was 
milk  and  corn  they  asked  from  it  in  exchange  for  their 
children — how  great  was  their  horror  and  their 
moaning  !  "' 

And  in  Egypt 

In  Egypt,  where  the  national  character  was  markedly 
easy-going,  pleasure-loving,  and  little  capable  of  fanatical 
exaltation,  we  find  no  record  of  any  such  cruel  rites  in 
the  monumental  inscriptions  and  paintings,  copious  as 
is  the  information  which  they  give  us  on  all  features  of 
the  national  life  and  religion.2     Manetho,  indeed,  the 

1  "The  Irish  Mythological  Cycle,"  by  d'Arbois  de  Jubainville, 
p.  6l.  The  "  Dinnsenchus"  in  question  is  an  early  Christian  document. 
No  trace  of  a  being  like  Crom  Cruach  has  been  found  as  yet  in  the 
pagan  literature  of  Ireland,  nor  in  the  writings  of  St.  Patrick,  and  I 
think  it  is  quite  probable  that  even  in  the  time  of  St.  Patrick  human 
sacrifices  had  become  only  a  memory. 

2  A  representation  of  human  sacrifice  has,  however,  lately  been  dis- 
covered in  a  Temple  of  the  Sun  in  the  ancient  Ethiopian  capital,  Meroe. 

85 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Egyptian  historian  who  wrote  in  the  third  century  B.C., 
tells  us  that  human  sacrifices  were  abolished  by  Amasis  I. 
so  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  XVIII  Dynasty — 
about  1 600  B.C.  But  the  complete  silence  of  the  other 
records  shows  us  that  even  if  we  are  to  believe  Manetho, 
the  practice  must  in  historic  times  have  been  very  rare, 
and  must  have  been  looked  on  with  repugnance. 

The  Names  of  Celtic  Deities 

What  were  the  names  and  the  attributes  of  the 
Celtic  deities  ?  Here  we  are  very  much  in  the  dark. 
The  Megalithic  People  did  not  imagine  their  deities 
under  concrete  personal  form.  Stones,  rivers,  wells, 
trees,  and  other  natural  objects  were  to  them  the 
adequate  symbols,  or  were  half  symbols,  half  actual 
embodiments,  of  the  supernatural  forces  which  they 
venerated.  But  the  imaginative  mind  of  the  Aryan 
Celt  was  not  content  with  this.  The  existence  of  per- 
sonal gods  with  distinct  titles  and  attributes  is  reported 
to  us  by  Caesar,  who  equates  them  with  various  figures 
in  the  Roman  pantheon — Mercury,  Apollo,  Mars,  and 
so  forth.  Lucan  mentions  a  triad  of  deities,  tEsus, 
Teutates,  and  Taranus  ; x  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  in 
these  names  we  seem  to  be  in  presence  of  a  true  Celtic, 
i.e.,  Aryan,  tradition.  Thus  jEsus  is  derived  by 
Belloguet  from  the  Aryan  root  as,  meaning  "  to  be," 
which  furnished  the  name  of  Asura-masda  (F  Esprit  Sage) 
to  the  Persians,  iEsun  to  the  Umbrians,  Asa  (Divine 
Being)  to  the  Scandinavians.  Teutates  comes  from  a 
Celtic  root  meaning  "  valiant,"  "  warlike,"  and  indicates 

1  "You  [Celts]  who  by  cruel  blood  outpoured  think  to  appease  the 
pitiless  Teutates,  the  horrid  ^Esus  with  his  barbarous  altars,  and 
Taranus  whose  worship  is  no  gentler  than  that  of  the  Scythian  Diana," 
to  whom  captives  were  offered  up.  (Lucan,  "  Pharsalia,"  i.  444.) 
An  altar  dedicated  to  iEsus  has  been  discovered  in  Paris. 
86 


Milk  and  corn  they  asked  in  exchange  for  their  children" 


CAESAR  ON  THE  CELTIC  DEITIES 

a  deity  equivalent  to  Mars.  Taranus  (?Thor),  accord- 
ing to  de  Jubainville,  is  a  god  of  the  Lightning  (taran 
in  Welsh,  Cornish,  and  Breton  is  the  word  for 
"  thunderbolt ").  Votive  inscriptions  to  these  gods 
have  been  found  in  Gaul  and  Britain.  Other  inscrip- 
tions and  sculptures  bear  testimony  to  the  existence  in 
Gaul  of  a  host  of  minor  and  local  deities  who  are 
mostly  mere  names,  or  not  even  names,  to  us  now.  In 
the  form  in  which  we  have  them  these  conceptions  bear 
clear  traces  of  Roman  influence.  The  sculptures  are 
rude  copies  of  the  Roman  style  of  religious  art.  But 
we  meet  among  them  figures  of  much  wilder  and 
stranger  aspect — gods  with  triple  faces,  gods  with 
branching  antlers  on  their  brows,  ram-headed  serpents, 
and  other  now  unintelligible  symbols  of  the  older  faith. 
Very  notable  is  the  frequent  occurrence  of  the  cross- 
legged  "  Buddha"  attitude  so  prevalent  in  the  religious 
art  of  the  East  and  of  Mexico,  and  also  the  tendency, 
so  well  known  in  Egypt,  to  group  the  gods  in  triads. 

Caesar  on  the  Celtic  Deities 

Caesar,  who  tries  to  fit  the  Gallic  religion  into  the 
framework  of  Roman  mythology — which  was  exactly 
what  the  Gauls  themselves  did  after  the  conquest — says 
they  held  Mercury  to  be  the  chief  of  the  gods,  and 
looked  upon  him  as  the  inventor  of  all  the  arts,  as  the 
presiding  deity  of  commerce,  and  as  the  guardian  of 
roads  and  guide  of  travellers.  One  may  conjecture  that 
he  was  particularly,  to  the  Gauls  as  to  the  Romans,  the 
guide  of  the  dead,  of  travellers  to  the  Other-world, 
Many  bronze  statues  to  Mercury,  of  Gaulish  origin, 
still  remain,  the  name  being  adopted  by  the  Gauls,  as 
many  place-names  still  testify.1     Apollo  was  regarded 

1  Mont  Mcrcure,  Mercceur,  Mercoircy,  Montmartre  {Mont  Mer- 
curit),  Sec. 

87 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

as  the  deity  of  medicine  and  healing,  Minerva  was  the 
initiator  or  arts  and  crafts,  Jupiter  governed  the  sky, 
and  Mars  presided  over  war.  Caesar  is  here,  no  doubt, 
classifying  under  five  types  and  by  Roman  names  a  large 
number  of  Gallic  divinities. 

The  God  of  the  Underworld 

According  to  Caesar,  a  most  notable  deity  of  the 
Gauls  was  (in  Roman  nomenclature)  Dis,  or  Pluto,  the 
god  of  the  Underworld  inhabited  by  the  dead.  From 
him  all  the  Gauls  claimed  to  be  descended,  and  on  this 
account,  says  Caesar,  they  began  their  reckoning  of  the 
twenty-four  hours  of  the  day  with  the  oncoming  of 
night.1  The  name  of  this  deity  is  not  given.  D'Arbois 
de  Jubainville  considers  that,  together  with  iEsus, 
Teutates,  Taranus,  and,  in  Irish  mythology,  Balor  and 
the  Fomorians,  he  represents  the  powers  of  darkness, 
death,  and  evil,  and  Celtic  mythology  is  thus  interpreted 
as  a  variant  of  the  universal  solar  myth,  embodying  the 
conception  of  the  eternal  conflict  between  Day  and  Night. 

The  God  of  Light 

The  God  of  Light  appears  in  Gaul  and  in  Ireland  as 
Lugh,  or  Lugus,  who  has  left  his  traces  in  many  place- 
names  such  as  Lugudunum  (Leyden),  Lyons,  &c.  Lugh 
appears  in  Irish  legend  with  distinctly  solar  attributes. 
When  he  meets  his  army  before  the  great  conflict  with 
the  Fomorians,  they  feel,  says  the  saga,  as  if  they  beheld 
the  rising  of  the  sun.  Yet  he  is  also,  as  we  shall  see, 
a  god  of  the  Underworld,  belonging  on  the  side  of  his 
mother  Ethlinn,  daughter  of  Balor,  to  the  Powers  of 
Darkness. 

1  To  this  day  in  many  parts  of  France  the  peasantry  use  terms 
like  annuity  o'ne,  anneue,  &c,  all  meaning  "to-night,"  for  aujourd'hui 
(Bertrand,  "  Rel.  des  G.,"  p.  356). 
88 


FACTORS  IN  ANCIENT  CELTIC  CULTURE 

The  Celtic  Conception  of  Death 

The  fact  is  that  the  Celtic  conception  of  the  realm 
of  death  differed  altogether  from  that  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  and,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  resembled 
that  of  Egyptian  religion.  The  Other-world  was  not  a 
place  of  gloom  and  suffering,  but  of  light  and  liberation. 
The  Sun  was  as  much  the  god  of  that  world  as  he  was  of 
this.  Evil,  pain,  and  gloom  there  were,  no  doubt,  and  no 
doubt  these  principles  were  embodied  by  the  Irish  Celts 
in  their  myths  of  Balor  and  the  Fomorians,  of  which 
we  shall  hear  anon  ;  but  that  they  were  particularly 
associated  with  the  idea  of  death  is,  I  think,  a  false 
supposition  founded  on  misleading  analogies  drawn 
from  the  ideas  of  the  classical  nations.  Here  the  Celts 
followed  North  African  or  Asiatic  conceptions  rather 
than  those  of  the  Aryans  of  Europe.  It  is  only  by 
realising  that  the  Celts  as  we  know  them  in  history, 
from  the  break-up  of  the  Mid-European  Celtic  empire 
onwards,  formed  a  singular  blend  or  Aryan  with  non- 
Aryan  characteristics,  that  we  shall  arrive  at  a  true 
understanding  of  their  contribution  to  European  history 
and  their  influence  in  European  culture. 

The  Five  Factors  in  Ancient  Celtic  Culture 

To  sum  up  the  conclusions  indicated  :  we  can,  I 
think,  distinguish  five  distinct  factors  in  the  religious 
and  intellectual  culture  of  Celtic  lands  as  we  find  them 
prior  to  the  influx  of  classical  or  of  Christian  influences. 
First,  we  have  before  us  a  mass  of  popular  superstitions 
and  of  magical  observances,  including  human  sacrifice. 
These  varied  more  or  less  from  place  to  place,  centring 
as  they  did  largely  on  local  features  which  were  regarded 
as  embodiments  or  vehicles  of  divine  or  of  diabolic 
power.     Secondly,    there   was  certainly  in  existence  a 

89 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

thoughtful  and  philosophic  creed,  having  as  its  central 
object  of  worship  the  Sun,  as  an  emblem  of  divine 
power  and  constancy,  and  as  its  central  doctrine  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  Thirdly,  there  was  a  worship 
of  personified  deities,  ./Esus,  Teutates,  Lugh,  and  others, 
conceived  as  representing  natural  forces,  or  as  guardians 
of  social  laws.  Fourthly,  the  Romans  were  deeply 
impressed  with  the  existence  among  the  Druids  of  a 
body  of  teaching  of  a  quasi-scientific  nature  about 
natural  phenomena  and  the  constitution  of  the  universe, 
of  the  details  of  which  we  unfortunately  know  practically 
nothing.  Lastly,  we  have  to  note  the  prevalence  of  a 
sacerdotal  organisation,  which  administered  the  whole 
system  of  religious  and  of  secular  learning  and  literature,1 
which  carefully  confined  this  learning  to  a  privileged 
caste,  and  which,  by  virtue  of  its  intellectual  supremacy 
and  of  the  atmosphere  of  religious  awe  with  which  it  was 
surrounded,  became  the  sovran  power,  social,  political, 
and  religious,  in  every  Celtic  country.  I  have  spoken  of 
these  elements  as  distinct,  and  we  can,  indeed,  distinguish 
them  in  thought,  but  in  practice  they  were  inextricably 
intertwined,  and  the  Druidic  organisation  pervaded  and 
ordered  all.  Can  we  now,  it  may  be  asked,  distinguish 
among  them  what  is  of  Celtic  and  what  of  pre-Celtic 
and  probably  non-Aryan  origin  ?  This  is  a  more 
difficult  task  ;  yet,  looking  at  all  the  analogies  and 
probabilities,  I  think  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in 
assigning  to  the  Megalithic  People  the  special  doctrines, 
the  ritual,  and  the  sacerdotal  organisation  of  Druidism, 
and  to  the  Celtic  element  the  personified  deities,  with 
the  zest  for  learning  and  for  speculation  ;  while  the 
popular  superstitions  were  merely  the  local  form  assumed 
by  conceptions  as  widespread  as  the  human  race. 

1  The  Jili,  or  professional  poets,  it  must  be  remembered,  were  a 
branch  of  the  Druidic  order. 
90 


THE  CELTS  OF  TODAY 

The  Celts  of  To-day 

In  view  of  the  undeniably  mixed  character  of  the 
populations  called  "  Celtic  "  at  the  present  day,  it  is 
often  urged  that  this  designation  has  no  real  relation 
to  any  ethnological  fact.  The  Celts  who  fought  with 
Caesar  in  Gaul  and  with  the  English  in  Ireland  are,  it 
is  said,  no  more — they  have  perished  on  a  thousand 
battlefields  from  Alesia  to  the  Boyne,  and  an  older 
racial  stratum  has  come  to  the  surface  in  their  place. 
The  true  Celts,  according  to  this  view,  are  only  to  be 
found  in  the  tall,  ruddy  Highlanders  of  Perthshire  and 
North-west  Scotland,  and  in  a  few  families  of  the  old 
ruling  race  still  surviving  in  Ireland  and  in  Wales.  In 
all  this  I  think  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  a  large 
measure  of  truth.  Yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  descendants  of  the  Megalithic  People  at  the  present 
day  are,  on  the  physical  side,  deeply  impregnated  with 
Celtic  blood,  and  on  the  spiritual  with  Celtic  traditions 
and  ideals.  Nor,  again,  in  discussing  these  questions 
of  race-character  and  its  origin,  must  it  ever  be  assumed 
that  the  character  of  a  people  can  be  analysed  as  one 
analyses  a  chemical  compound,  fixing  once  for  all  its 
constituent  parts  and  determining  its  future  behaviour 
and  destiny.  Race-character,  potent  and  enduring  though 
it  be,  is  not  a  dead  thing,  cast  in  an  iron  mould,  and  there- 
after incapable  of  change  and  growth.  It  is  part  of  the 
living  forces  of  the  world  ;  it  is  plastic  and  vital ;  it  has 
hidden  potencies  which  a  variety  of  causes,  such  as  a  felici- 
tous cross  with  a  different,  but  not  too  different,  stock,  or 
— in  another  sphere — the  adoption  of  a  new  religious  or 
social  ideal,  may  at  any  time  unlock  and  bring  into  action. 

Of  one  thing  I  personally  feel  convinced — that  the 
problem  of  the  ethical,  social,  and  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the   people  constituting  what  is  called    the 

9i 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

"Celtic  Fringe"  in  Europe  ought  to  be  worked  for 
on  Celtic  lines  ;  by  the  maintenance  of  the  Celtic 
tradition,  Celtic  literature,  Celtic  speech — the  encourage- 
ment, in  short,  of  all  those  Celtic  affinities  of  which  this 
mixed  race  is  now  the  sole  conscious  inheritor  and 
guardian.  To  these  it  will  respond,  by  these  it  can  be 
deeply  moved  ;  nor  has  the  harvest  ever  failed  those 
who  with  courage  and  faith  have  driven  their  plough 
into  this  rich  field.  On  the  other  hand,  if  this  work  is 
to  be  done  with  success  it  must  be  done  in  no  pedantic, 
narrow,  intolerant  spirit ;  there  must  be  no  clinging  to 
the  outward  forms  of  the  past  simply  because  the  Celtic 
spirit  once  found  utterance  in  them.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  in  the  early  Middle  Ages  Celts  from  Ireland 
were  the  most  notable  explorers,  the  most  notable 
pioneers  of  religion,  science,  and  speculative  thought  in 
Europe.1  Modern  investigators  have  traced  their  foot- 
prints of  light  over  half  the  heathen  continent,  and  the 
schools  of  Ireland  were  thronged  with  foreign  pupils  who 
could  get  learning  nowhere  else.  The  Celtic  spirit  was 
then  playing  its  true  part  in  the  world-drama,  and  a  greater 
it  has  never  played.  The  legacy  of  these  men  should 
be  cherished  indeed,  but  not  as  a  museum  curiosity ; 
nothing  could  be  more  opposed  to  their  free,  bold,  adven- 
turous spirit  than  to  let  that  legacy  petrify  in  the  hands 
of  those  who  claim  the  heirship  of  their  name  and  fame. 

The  Mythical  Literature 

After  the  sketch  contained  in  this  and  the  foregoing 
chapter  of  the  early  history  of  the  Celts,  and  of  the  forces 

1  For  instance,  Pelagius  in  the  fifth  century  ;  Columba,  Colum- 
banus,  and  St.  Gall  in  the  sixth  ;  Fridolin,  named  Viator,  "  the 
Traveller,"  and  Fursa  in  the  seventh  ;  Virgilius  (Feargal)  of  Salz- 
burg, who  had  to  answer  at  Rome  for  teaching  the  sphericity  of  the 
earth,  in  the  eighth  ;  Dicuil,  "  the  Geographer,"  and  Johannes  Scotus 
Erigena — the  master  mind  of  his  epoch — in  the  ninth. 
92 


THE  MYTHICAL  LITERATURE 

which  have  moulded  it,  we  shall  now  turn  to  give  an 
account  of  the  mythical  and  legendary  literature  in  which 
their  spirit  most  truly  lives  and  shines.  We  shall  not 
here  concern  ourselves  with  any  literature  which  is  not 
Celtic.  With  all  that  other  peoples  have  made — as  in 
the  Arthurian  legends — of  myths  and  tales  originally 
Celtic,  we  have  here  nothing  to  do.  No  one  can  now 
tell  how  much  is  Celtic  in  them  and  how  much  is  not. 
And  in  matters  of  this  kind  it  is  generally  the  final 
recasting  that  is  of  real  importance  and  value.  What- 
ever we  give,  then,  we  give  without  addition  or  re- 
shaping. Stories,  of  course,  have  often  to  be  summarised, 
but  there  shall  be  nothing  in  them  that  did  not  come 
direct  from  the  Celtic  mind,  and  that  does  not  exist 
to-day  in  some  variety,  Gaelic  or  Cymric,  of  the  Celtic 
tongue. 


93 


CHAPTER  HI :  THE  IRISH  INVASION 
MYTHS 

The  Celtic  Cosmogony 

AMONG  those  secret  doctrines  about  the  "  nature 
of  things  "  which,  as  Caesar  tells  us,  the  Druids 
never  would  commit  to  writing,  was  there  any- 
thing in  the  nature  of  a  cosmogony,  any  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  world  and  of  man  ?  There  surely  was.  It 
would  be  strange  indeed  if,  alone  among  the  races  ot 
the  world,  the  Celts  had  no  world-myth.  The  spectacle 
of  the  universe  with  all  its  vast  and  mysterious  pheno- 
mena in  heaven  and  on  earth  has  aroused,  first  the 
imagination,  afterwards  the  speculative  reason,  in  every 
people  which  is  capable  of  either.  The  Celts  had  both 
in  abundance,  yet,  except  for  that  one  phrase  about  the 
"  indestructibility  "  of  the  world  handed  down  to  us  by 
Strabo,  we  know  nothing  of  their  early  imaginings  or 
their  reasonings  on  this  subject.  Ireland  possesses  a 
copious  legendary  literature.  All  of  this,  no  doubt, 
assumed  its  present  form  in  Christian  times  ;  yet  so 
much  essential  paganism  has  been  allowed  to  remain  in 
it  that  it  would  be  strange  if  Christian  influences  had  led 
to  the  excision  of  everything  in  these  ancient  texts  that 
pointed  to  a  non-Christian  conception  of  the  origin  of 
things — if  Christian  editors  and  transmitters  had  never 
given  us  even  the  least  glimmer  of  the  existence  of  such 
a  conception.  Yet  the  fact  is  that  they  do  not  give  it ; 
there  is  nothing  in  the  most  ancient  legendary  literature 
of  the  Irish  Gaels,  which  is  the  oldest  Celtic  literature 
in  existence,  corresponding  to  the  Babylonian  conquest 
of  Chaos,  or  the  wild  Norse  myth  of  the  making  of 
Midgard  out  of  the  corpse  of  Ymir,  or  the  Egyptian 
creation  of  the  universe  out  of  the  primeval  Water  by 
Thoth,  the  Word  of  God,  or  even  to  the  primitive  folk- 
94 


THE  MYTHOLOGICAL  CYCLE 

lore  conceptions  found  in  almost  every  savage  tribe. 
That  the  Druids  had  some  doctrine  on  this  subject  it  is 
impossible  to  doubt.  But,  by  resolutely  confining  it  to 
the  initiated  and  forbidding  all  lay  speculation  on  the 
subject,  they  seem  to  have  completely  stifled  the  myth- 
making  instinct  in  regard  to  questions  of  cosmogony 
among  the  people  at  large,  and  ensured  that  when  their 
own  order  perished,  their  teaching,  whatever  it  was, 
should  die  with  them. 

In  the  early  Irish  accounts,  therefore,  of  the  begin- 
nings of  things,  we  find  that  it  is  not  with  the  World  that 
the  narrators  make  their  start — it  is  simply  with  their  own 
country,  with  Ireland.  It  was  the  practice,  indeed,  to 
prefix  to  these  narratives  of  early  invasions  and  colo- 
nisations the  Scriptural  account  of  the  making  of  the 
world  and  man,  and  this  shows  that  something  of  the 
kind  was  felt  to  be  required  ;  but  what  took  the  place 
of  the  Biblical  narrative  in  pre-Christian  days  we  do 
not  know,  and,  unfortunately,  are  now  never  likely  to 
know. 

The  Cycles  of  Irish  Legend 

Irish  mythical  and  legendary  literature,  as  we  have  it 
in  the  most  ancient  form,  may  be  said  to  fall  into  four 
main  divisions,  and  to  these  we  shall  adhere  in  our 
presentation  of  it  in  this  volume.  They  are,  in  chrono- 
logical order,  the  Mythological  Cycle,  or  Cycle  of  the 
Invasions,  the  Ultonian  or  Conorian  Cycle,  the  Ossianic 
or  Fenian  Cycle,  and  a  multitude  of  miscellaneous  tales 
and  legends  which  it  is  hard  to  fit  into  any  historical 
framework. 

The  Mythological  Cycle 

The  Mythological  Cycle  comprises  the  following 
sections  : 

95 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

i .  The  coming  of  Partholan  into  Ireland. 

2.  The  coming  of  Nemed  into  Ireland. 

3.  The  coming  of  the  Firbolgs  into  Ireland. 

4.  The  invasion  of  the  Tuatha  De  Danann,  or  People 

of  the  god  Dana. 

5.  The  invasion  of  the  Milesians  (Sons  of  Miled)  from 

Spain,  and  their  conquest  of  the  People  of  Dana. 

With  the  Milesians  we  begin  to  come  into  something 
resembling  history — they  represent,  in  Irish  legend,  the 
Celtic  race  ;  and  from  them  the  ruling  families  of  Ire- 
land are  supposed  to  be  descended.  The  People  of 
Dana  are  evidently  gods.  The  pre-Danaan  settlers  or 
invaders  are  huge  phantom-like  figures,  which  loom 
vaguely  through  the  mists  of  tradition,  and  have  little 
definite  characterisation.  The  accounts  which  are  given 
of  them  are  many  and  conflicting,  and  out  of  these  we 
can  only  give  here  the  more  ancient  narratives. 

The  Coming  of  Partholan 

The  Celts,  as  we  have  learned  from  Caesar,  believed 
themselves  to  be  descended  from  the  God  of  the  Under- 
world, the  God  of  the  Dead.  Partholan  is  said  to  have 
come  into  Ireland  from  the  West,  where  beyond  the 
vast,  unsailed  Atlantic  Ocean  the  Irish  Fairyland,  the 
Land  of  the  Living — i.e.,  the  land  of  the  Happy  Dead — 
was  placed.  His  father's  name  was  Sera  (?  the  West). 
He  came  with  his  queen  Dalny1  and  a  number  of  com- 
panions of  both  sexes.  Ireland — and  this  is  an  imagina- 
tive touch  intended  to  suggest  extreme  antiquity — was 
then  a  different  country,  physically,  from  what  it  is  now. 
There  were  then  but  three  lakes  in  Ireland,  nine  rivers, 
and  only   one   plain.     Others   were   added   gradually 

1  Dealgnaid.  I  have  been  obliged  here,  as  occasionally  elsewhere, 
to  modify  the  Irish   names  so  as  to  make  them  pronounceable  by 

English  readers. 
96 


St.    Finnen  and  the   Pagan  Chief 


96 


THE  LEGEND  OF  TUAN  MAG  CARELL 
during   the    reign    of  the    Partholanians.     One,   Lake 
Rury,  was  said  to  have  burst  out  as  a  grave  was  being 
dug  for  Rury,  son  of  Partholan. 

The  Fomorians 

The  Partholanians,  it  is  said,  had  to  do  battle  with  a 
strange  race,  called  the  Fomorians,  of  whom  we  shall 
hear  much  in  later  sections  of  this  book.  They  were  a 
huge,  misshapen,  violent  and  cruel  people,  representing, 
we  may  believe,  the  powers  of  evil.  One  of  these  was 
surnamed  Cenchos,  which  means  The  Footless,  and  thus 
appears  to  be  related  to  Vitra,  the  God  of  Evil  in  Vedan- 
tic  mythology,  who  had  neither  feet  nor  hands.  With  a 
host  of  these  demons  Partholan  fought  for  the  lordship 
of  Ireland,  and  drove  them  out  to  the  northern  seas, 
whence  they  occasionally  harried  the  country  under  its 
later  rulers. 

The  end  of  the  race  of  Partholan  was  that  they  were 
afflicted  by  pestilence,  and  having  gathered  together  on 
the  Old  Plain  (Sen mag)  for  convenience  of  burying 
their  dead,  they  all  perished  there  ;  and  Ireland  once 
more  lay  empty  for  reoccupation. 

The  Legend  of  Tuan  mac  Carell 

Who,  then,  told  the  tale  ?  This  brings  us  to  the 
mention  of  a  very  curious  and  interesting  legend — one 
of  the  numerous  legendary  narratives  in  which  these 
tales  of  the  Mythical  Period  have  come  down  to  us. 
It  is  found  in  the  so-called  "  Book  of  the  Dun  Cow,"  a 
manuscript  of  about  the  year  a.d.  iioo,  and  is  entitled 
"The  Legend  of  Tuan  mac  Carell." 

St.  Finnen,  an  Irish  abbot  of  the  sixth  century,  is 
said  to  have  gone  to  seek  hospitality  from  a  chief  named 
Tuan  mac  Carell,  who  dwelt  not  far  from  Finnen's 
monastery    at    Moville,    Co.  Donegal.     Tuan  refused 

c  97 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

him  admittance.  The  saint  sat  down  on  the  doorstep 
of  the  chief  and  fasted  for  a  whole  Sunday,1  upon  which 
the  surly  pagan  warrior  opened  the  door  to  him. 
Good  relations  were  established  between  them,  and  the 
saint  returned  to  his  monks. 

"Tuan  is  an  excellent  man,"  said  he  to  them  ;  "he 
will  come  to  you  and  comfort  you,  and  tell  you  the  old 
stories  of  Ireland."2 

This  humane  interest  in  the  old  myths  and  legends 
of  the  country  is,  it  may  here  be  observed,  a  feature  as 
constant  as  it  is  pleasant  in  the  literature  of  early  Irish 
Christianity. 

Tuan  came  shortly  afterwards  to  return  the  visit  of 
the  saint,  and  invited  him  and  his  disciples  to  his 
fortress.  They  asked  him  of  his  name  and  lineage,  and 
he  gave  an  astounding  reply.  "  I  am  a  man  of  Ulster," 
he  said.  "  My  name  is  Tuan  son  of  Carell.  But  once 
1  was  called  Tuan  son  of  Starn,  son  of  Sera,  and  my 
father,  Starn,  was  the  brother  of  Partholan." 

"Tell  us  the  history  of  Ireland,"  then  said  Finnen, 
and  Tuan  began.  Partholan,  he  said,  was  the  first  of 
men  to  settle  in  Ireland.  After  the  great  pestilence 
already  narrated  he  alone  survived,  "  for  there  is  never 
a  slaughter  that  one  man  does  not  come  out  of  it  to  tell 
the  tale."  Tuan  was  alone  in  the  land,  and  he  wan- 
dered about  from  one  vacant  fortress  to  another,  from 
rock  to  rock,  seeking  shelter  from  the  wolves.  For 
twenty-two  years  he  lived  thus  alone,  dwelling  in  waste 
places,  till  at  last  he  fell  into  extreme  decrepitude  and 
old  age. 

"  Then  Nemed  son  of  Agnoman  took  possession  of 
Ireland.     He  [Agnoman]  was  my  father's  brother.     I 

1  See  p.  48,  note  1. 

2  I  follow  in  this  narrative  R.    I.  Best's  translation  of  the  "  Irish 
Mythological  Cycle"  of  d'Arbois  de  Jubainville. 

98 


THE  LEGEND  OF  TUAN  MAC  CARELL 

saw  him  from  the  cliffs,  and  kept  avoiding  him.  I  was 
long-haired,  clawed,  decrepit,  grey,  naked,  wretched, 
miserable.  Then  one  evening  I  fell  asleep,  and  when 
I  woke  again  on  the  morrow  I  was  changed  into  a  stag. 
I  was  young  again  and  glad  of  heart.  Then  I  sang  of 
the  coming  of  Nemed  and  of  his  race,  and  of  my  own 
transformation.  .  .  .  l  I  have  put  on  a  new  form,  a 
skin  rough  and  grey.  Victory  and  joy  are  easy  to  me  ; 
a  little  while  ago  I  was  weak  and  defenceless.'  " 

Tuan  is  then  king  of  all  the  deer  of  Ireland,  and  so 
remained  all  the  days  of  Nemed  and  his  race. 

He  tells  how  the  Nemedians  sailed  for  Ireland  in  a 
fleet  of  thirty-two  barks,  in  each  bark  thirty  persons. 
They  went  astray  on  the  seas  for  a  year  and  a  half,  and 
most  of  them  perished  of  hunger  and  thirst  or  of  ship- 
wreck. Nine  only  escaped — Nemed  himself,  with  four 
men  and  four  women.  These  landed  in  Ireland,  and 
increased  their  numbers  in  the  course  of  time  till 
they  were  8060  men  and  women.  Then  all  of  them 
mysteriously  died. 

Again  old  age  and  decrepitude  fell  upon  Tuan,  but 
another  transformation  awaited  him.  "Once  I  was 
standing  at  the  mouth  of  my  cave — I  still  remember  it 
— and  1  knew  that  my  body  changed  into  another  form. 
I  was  a  wild  boar.     And  I  sang  this  song  about  it : 

" '  To-day  I  am  a  boar.  .  .  .  Time  was  when  I  sat  in  the 
assembly  that  gave  the  judgments  of  Partholan.  It  was 
sung,  and  all  praised  the  melody.  How  pleasant  was  the 
strain  of  my  brilliant  judgment  !  How  pleasant  to  the 
comely  young  women  !  My  chariot  went  along  in  majesty 
and  beauty.  My  voice  was  grave  and  sweet.  My  step 
was  swift  and  firm  in  battle.  My  face  was  full  of  charm. 
To-day,  lo  !   I  am  changed  into  a  black  boar.' 

"  That  is  what  I  said.  Yea,  of  a  surety  I  was  a  wild 
boar.     Then  I  became  young  again,  and  I  was  glad.     I 

99 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

was  king  of  the  boar-herds  in  Ireland  ;  and,  faithful  to 
my  custom,  I  went  the  rounds  of  my  abode  when  I 
returned  into  the  lands  of  Ulster,  at  the  times  old  age 
and  wretchedness  came  upon  me.  For  it  was  always 
there  that  my  transformations  took  place,  and  that  is 
why  I  went  back  thither  to  await  the  renewal  of  my  body." 

Tuan  then  goes  on  to  tell  how  Semion  son  of 
Stariat  settled  in  Ireland,  from  whom  descended  the 
Firbolgs  and  two  other  tribes  who  persisted  into 
historic  times.  Again  old  age  comes  on,  his  strength 
fails  him,  and  he  undergoes  another  transformation  ;  he 
becomes  "a  great  eagle  of  the  sea,"  and  once  more 
rejoices  in  renewed  youth  and  vigour.  He  then  tells 
how  the  People  of  Dana  came  in,  "  gods  and  false  gods 
from  whom  every  one  knows  the  Irish  men  of  learning 
are  sprung."  After  these  came  the  Sons  of  Miled,  who 
conquered  the  People  of  Dana.  All  this  time  Tuan 
kept  the  shape  of  the  sea-eagle,  till  one  day,  finding 
himself  about  to  undergo  another  transformation,  he 
fasted  nine  days  ;  "  then  sleep  fell  upon  me,  and  I  was 
changed  into  a  salmon."  He  rejoices  in  his  new  life, 
escaping  for  many  years  the  snares  of  the  fishermen, 
till  at  last  he  is  captured  by  one  of  them  and  brought 
to  the  wife  of  Carell,  chief  of  the  country.  "The 
woman  desired  me  and  ate  me  by  herself,  whole,  so 
that  I  passed  into  her  womb."  He  is  born  again,  and 
passes  for  Tuan  son  of  Carell ;  but  the  memory  of  his 
pre-existence  and  all  his  transformations  and  all  the 
history  of  Ireland  that  he  witnessed  since  the  days  of 
Partholan  still  abides  with  him,  and  he  teaches  all  these 
things  to  the  Christian  monks,  who  carefully  preserve 
them. 

This  wild  tale,  with  its  atmosphere  of  grey  antiquity 
and  of  childlike  wonder,  reminds  us  of  the  transforma- 
tions of  the  Welsh  Taliessin,  who  also  became  an  eagle, 
ioo 


Tuan   watches   Nemed 


THE  NEMEDIANS 

and  points  to  that  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  the 
soul  which,  as  we  have  seen,  haunted  the  imagination 
of  the  Celt. 

We  have  now  to  add  some  details  to  the  sketch  of 
the  successive  colonisations  of  Ireland  outlined  byTuan 
mac  Carell. 

The  Nemedians 

The  Nemedians,  as  we  have  seen,  were  akin  to  the 
Partholanians.  Both  of  them  came  from  the  mysterious 
regions  of  the  dead,  though  later  Irish  accounts,  which 
endeavoured  to  reconcile  this  mythical  matter  with 
Christianity,  invented  for  them  a  descent  from  Scriptural 
patriarchs  and  an  origin  in  earthly  lands  such  as  Spain  or 
Scythia.  Both  of  them  had  to  do  constant  battle  with 
the  Fomorians,  whom  the  later  legends  make  out  to  be 
pirates  from  oversea,  but  who  are  doubtless  divinities 
representing  the  powers  of  darkness  and  evil.  There 
is  no  legend  of  the  Fomorians  coming  into  Ireland,  nor 
were  they  regarded  as  at  any  time  a  regular  portion  of 
the  population.  They  were  coeval  with  the  world  itself. 
Nemed  fought  victoriously  against  them  in  four  great 
battles,  but  shortly  afterwards  died  of  a  plague  which 
carried  off  2000  of  his  people  with  him.  The 
Fomorians  were  then  enabled  to  establish  their  tyranny 
over  Ireland.  They  had  at  this  period  two  kings, 
More  and  Conann.  The  stronghold  of  the  Formorian 
power  was  on  Tory  Island,  which  uplifts  its  wild  cliffs 
and  precipices  in  the  Atlantic  off  the  coast  of  Donegal — 
a  fit  home  for  this  race  of  mystery  and  horror.  They 
extracted  a  crushing  tribute  from  the  people  of  Ireland, 
two-thirds  of  all  the  milk  and  two-thirds  of  the  children 
of  the  land.  At  last  the  Nemedians  rise  in  revolt. 
Led  by  three  chiefs,  they  land  on  Tory  Island,  capture 
Conann's    Tower,   and    Conann    himself   falls    by   the 

101 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

hand  of  the  Nemedian  chief,  Fergus.  But  More  at 
this  moment  comes  into  the  battle  with  a  fresh  host, 
and  utterly  routs  the  Nemedians,  who  are  all  slain  but 
thirty  : 

"The  men  of  Erin  were  all  at  the  battle, 
After  the  Fomorians  came  ; 
All  of  them  the  sea  engulphed, 
Save  only  three  times  ten." 

Poem  by  Eochy  O'Flatttt,  arc.  a.d.  960. 

The  thirty  survivors  leave  Ireland  in  despair. 
According  to  the  most  ancient  belief  they  perished 
utterly,  leaving  no  descendants,  but  later  accounts, 
which  endeavour  to  make  sober  history  out  of  all  these 
myths,  represent  one  family,  that  of  the  chief  Britan, 
as  settling  in  Great  Britain  and  giving  their  name  to 
that  country,  while  two  others  returned  to  Ireland,  after 
many  wanderings,  as  the  Firbolgs  and  People  of  Dana. 

The  Coming  of  the  Firbolgs 

Who  were  the  Firbolgs,  and  what  did  they  represent 
in  Irish  legend  ?  The  name  appears  to  mean  "  Men  of 
the  Bags,"  and  a  legend  was  in  later  times  invented  to 
account  for  it.  It  was  said  that  after  settling  in  Greece 
they  were  oppressed  by  the  people  of  that  country, 
who  set  them  to  carry  earth  from  the  fertile  valleys  up 
to  the  rocky  hills,  so  as  to  make  arable  ground  of  the 
latter.  They  did  their  task  by  means  of  leathern  bags  ; 
but  at  last,  growing  weary  of  the  oppression,  they  made 
boats  or  coracles  out  of  their  bags,  and  set  sail  in  them  for 
Ireland.  Nennius,  however,  says  they  came  from  Spain, 
for  according  to  him  all  the  various  races  that  inhabited 
Ireland  came  originally  from  Spain  ;  and  "  Spain " 
with  him  is  a  rationalistic  rendering  of  the  Celtic  words 
designating  the  Land  of  the  Dead.1     They  came  in  three 

1  De  Jubainville,  "  Irish  Mythological  Cycle,"  p.  75, 
102 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  DANA 

groups,  the  Fir-Bolg,  the  Fir-Domnan,  and  the  Galioin, 
who  are  all  generally  designated  as  Firbolgs.  They 
play  no  great  part  in  Irish  mythical  history,  and  a  certain 
character  of  servility  and  inferiority  appears  to  attach  to 
them  throughout. 

One  of  their  kings,  Eochy x  mac  Ere,  took  in  marriage 
Taltiu,  or  Telta,  daughter  of  the  King  of  the  "  Great 
Plain  "  (the  Land  of  the  Dead).  Telta  had  a  palace  at  the 
place  now  called  after  her,  Telltown  (properly  Teltin). 
There  she  died,  and  there,  even  in  mediaeval  Ireland, 
a  great  annual  assembly  or  fair  was  held  in  her  honour. 

The  Coming  of  the  People  of  Dana 

We  now  come  to  by  far  the  most  interesting  and 
important  of  the  mythical  invaders  and  colonisers  of 
Ireland,  the  People  of  Dana.  The  name,  Tuatha  De 
Dananni  means  literally  "  the  folk  of  the  god  whose 
mother  is  Dana."  Dana  also  sometimes  bears  another 
name,  that  of  Brigit,  a  goddess  held  in  much  honour 
by  pagan  Ireland,  whose  attributes  are  in  a  great 
measure  transferred  in  legend  to  the  Christian  St. 
Brigit  of  the  sixth  century.  Her  name  is  also  found 
in  Gaulish  inscriptions  as  "  Brigindo,"  and  occurs  in 
several  British  inscriptions  as  "Brigantia."  She  was  the 
daughter  of  the  supreme  head  of  the  People  of  Dana, 
the  god  Dagda,  "  The  Good."  She  had  three  sons,  who 
are  said  to  have  had  in  common  one  only  son,  named 
Ecne — that  is  to  say,  "Knowledge,"  or  "Poetry."2 
Ecne,  then,  may  be  said  to  be  the  god  whose  mother 
was  Dana,  and  the  race  to  whom  she  gave  her  name  are 
the  clearest  representatives  we  have  in  Irish  myths  of 

1  Pronounced"  Yeo'hee."     See  Glossary  for  this  and  other  words. 

2  The  science  of  the  Druids,  as  we  have  seen,  was  conveyed  in 
verse,  and  the  professional  poets  were  a  branch  of  the  Druidic 
Order. 

10^ 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  powers  of  Light  and  Knowledge.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  alone  among  all  these  mythical  races 
Tuan  mac  Carell  gave  to  the  People  of  Dana  the  name 
of  "gods."  Yet  it  is  not  as  gods  that  they  appear  in 
the  form  in  which  Irish  legends  about  them  have  now 
come  down  to  us.  Christian  influences  reduced  them 
to  the  rank  of  fairies  or  identified  them  with  the  fallen 
angels.  They  were  conquered  by  the  Milesians,  who 
are  conceived  as  an  entirely  human  race,  and  who  had 
all  sorts  of  relations  of  love  and  war  with  them  until 
quite  recent  times.  Yet  even  in  the  later  legends  a 
certain  splendour  and  exaltation  appears  to  invest  the 
People  of  Dana,  recalling  the  high  estate  from  which 
they  had  been  dethroned. 

The  Popular  and  the  Bardic  Conceptions 

Nor  must   it  be   overlooked  that  the  popular  con- 
ception of  the  Danaan  deities  was  probably  at  all  times 
something  different  from  the  bardic  and  Druidic,  or  in 
other  words  the  scholarly,  conception.     The  latter,  as 
we  shall  see,  represents  them  as  the  presiding  deities  of 
science  and  poetry.     This  is  not  a  popular  idea ;  it  is 
the  product  of  the  Celtic,  the  Aryan  imagination,  in- 
spired by  a  strictly  intellectual  conception.     The  common 
people,  who  represented  mainly  the  Megalithic  element 
in  the  population,  appear  to  have  conceived  their  deities 
as  earth-powers — dei  terreni,  as  they  are  explicitly  called 
in  the  eighth-century  "  Book  of  Armagh"1 — presiding, 
not    over  science   and  poetry,   but  rather    agriculture, 
controlling  the  fecundity  of  the  earth  and  water,  and 
dwelling    in    hills,   rivers,    and   lakes.     In    the    bardic 
literature  the  Aryan  idea  is  prominent ;  the  other  is  to 
be  found  in  innumerable  folk-tales  and  popular  observ- 
ances ;  but  of  course  in  each  case  a  considerable  amount 

1  Meyer  and  Nutt,  "Voyage  of  Bran,"  ii.  197. 
104 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  DANAANS 

of  interpenetration  of  the  two  conceptions  is  to  be  met 
with — no  sharp  dividing  line  was  drawn  between  them 
in  ancient  times,  and  none  can  be  drawn  now. 

The  Treasures  of  the  Danaans 

Tuan  mac  Carell  says  they  came  to  Ireland  "  out  of 
heaven."  This  is  embroidered  in  later  tradition  into  a 
narrative  telling  how  they  sprang  from  four  great  cities, 
whose  very  names  breathe  of  fairydom  and  romance — 
Falias,  Gorias,  Finias,  and  Murias.  Here  they  learned 
science  and  craftsmanship  from  great  sages  one  of  whom 
was  enthroned  in  each  city,  and  from  each  they  brought 
with  them  a  magical  treasure.  From  Falias  came 
the  stone  called  the  Lia  Fail,  or  Stone  of  Destiny,  on 
which  the  High-Kings  of  Ireland  stood  when  they  were 
crowned,  and  which  was  supposed  to  confirm  the  election 
of  a  rightful  monarch  by  roaring  under  him  as  he  took 
his  place  on  it.  The  actual  stone  which  was  so  used  at 
the  inauguration  of  a  reign  did  from  immemorial  times 
exist  at  Tara,  and  was  sent  thence  to  Scotland  early  in 
the  sixth  century  for  the  crowning  of  Fergus  the  Great, 
son  of  Ere,  who  begged  his  brother  Murtagh  mac  Ere, 
King  of  Ireland,  for  the  loan  of  it.  An  ancient  pro- 
phecy told  that  wherever  this  stone  was,  a  king  of  the 
Scotic  {i.e.,  Irish-Milesian)  race  should  reign.  This  is 
the  famous  Stone  of  Scone,  which  never  came  back  to 
Ireland,  but  was  removed  to  England  by  Edward  I.  in 
1297,  and  is  now  the  Coronation  Stone  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  Nor  has  the  old  prophecy  been  falsified,  since 
through  the  Stuarts  and  Fergus  mac  Ere  the  descent 
of  the  British  royal  family  can  be  traced  from  the 
historic  kings  of  Milesian  Ireland. 

The  second  treasure  of  the  Danaans  was  the  in- 
vincible sword  of  Lugh  of  the  Long  Arm,  of  whom  we 
shall  hear  later,  and  this  sword  came  from  the  city  of 

105 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Gorias.  From  Finias  came  a  magic  spear,  and  from 
Murias  the  Cauldron  of  the  Dagda,  a  vessel  which  had 
the  property  that  it  could  feed  a  host  of  men  without 
ever  being  emptied. 

With  these  possessions,  according  to  the  version  given 
in  the  "  Book  of  Invasions,"  the  People  of  Dana  came 
into  Ireland. 

The  Danaans  and  the  Firbolgs 

They  were  wafted  into  the  land  in  a  magic  cloud, 
making  their  first  appearance  in  Western  Connacht. 
When  the  cloud  cleared  away,  the  Firbolgs  discovered 
them  in  a  camp  which  they  had  already  fortified  at 
Moyrein. 

The  Firbolgs  now  sent  out  one  of  their  warriors, 
named  Sreng,  to  interview  the  mysterious  new-comers  ; 
and  the  People  of  Dana,  on  their  side,  sent  a  warrior 
named  Bres  to  represent  them.  The  two  ambassadors 
examined  each  other's  weapons  with  great  interest.  The 
spears  of  the  Danaans,  we  are  told,  were  light  and 
sharp-pointed  ;  those  of  the  Firbolgs  were  heavy  and 
blunt.  To  contrast  the  power  of  science  with  that  of 
brute  force  is  here  the  evident  intention  of  the  legend, 
and  we  are  reminded  of  the  Greek  myth  of  the  struggle 
of  the  Olympian  deities  with  the  Titans. 

Bres  proposed  to  the  Firbolg  that  the  two  races  should 
divide  Ireland  equally  between  them,  andjoin  to  defend  it 
against  all  comers  for  the  future.  They  then  exchanged 
weapons  and  returned  each  to  his  own  camp. 

The  First  Battle  of  Moytura 

The  Firbolgs,  however,  were  not  impressed  with  the 
superiority  of  the  Danaans,  and  decided  to  refuse  their 
offer.     The  battle  was  joined  on  the  Plain  of  Moytura,1 

1  "  Moytura  "  means  **  The  Plain  of  the  Towers " — i.e.,  sepulchral 
monuments. 
1 06 


The   Two  Ambassadors 


io5 


THE  EXPULSION  OF  KING  BRES 
in  the  south  of  Co.  Mayo,  near  the  spot  now  called 
Cong.     The  Firbolgs  were  led  by  their  king,  mac  Ere, 
and  the  Danaans  by  Nuada  of  the  Silver  Hand,  who 
got  his  name  from  an  incident  in  this  battle.     His  hand, 
it  is  said,  was  cut  off  in  the  fight,  and  one  of  the  skilful 
artificers  who  abounded  in  the  ranks  of  the  Danaans 
made  him  a  new  one  of  silver.     By  their  magical  and 
healing  arts  the  Danaans  gained  the  victory,  and  the 
Firbolg  king  was   slain.     But  a  reasonable  agreement 
followed  :  the   Firbolgs   were  allotted  the  province  of 
Connacht  for  their  territory,  while  the  Danaans  took  the 
rest  of  Ireland.     So  late  as  the  seventeenth  century  the 
annalist  Mac  Firbis  discovered  that  many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants  of  Connacht  traced  their  descent  to  these  same 
Firbolgs.     Probably  they  were  a  veritable  historic  race, 
and  the  conflict  between  them  and  the  People  of  Dana 
may  be  a  piece  of  actual  history  invested  with  some  of 
the  features  of  a  myth. 

The  Expulsion  of  King  Brcs 

Nuada  of  the   Silver   Hand  should  now  have  been 
ruler  of  the  Danaans,  but  his  mutilation  forbade  it,  for 
no  blemished  man  might  be  a  king  in  Ireland.     The 
Danaans  therefore  chose  Bres,  who  was  the  son  of  a 
Danaan  woman  named  Eri,  but  whose  father  was  un- 
known, to  reign  over  them  instead.     This  was  another 
Bres,  not  the  envoy  who  had  treated  with  the  Firbolgs 
and  who  was  slain  in  the  battle  of  Moytura.     Now  Bres, 
although  strong  and  beautiful  to  look  on,  had  no  gift  of 
kingship,  for  he  not  only  allowed  the  enemy  of  Ireland, 
the  Fomorians,  to  renew  their  oppression  and  taxation 
in  the  land,  but  he  himself  taxed  his  subjects  heavily 
too  ;  and  was  so  niggardly  that  he  gave  no  hospitality 
to  chiefs  and  nobles  and  harpers.     Lack  of  generosity 
and  hospitality  was  always  reckoned  the  worst  of  vices 

J07 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

in  an  Irish  prince.  One  day  it  is  said  that  there  came 
to  his  court  the  poet  Corpry,  who  found  himself  housed 
in  a  small,  dark  chamber  without  fire  or  furniture,  where, 
after  long  delay,  he  was  served  with  three  dry  cakes  and 
no  ale.  In  revenge  he  composed  a  satirical  quatrain  on 
his  churlish  host  : 

"  Without  food  quickly  served, 
Without  a  cow's  milk,  whereon  a  calf  can  grow, 
Without  a  dwelling  fit  for  a  man  under  the  gloomy  night, 
Without  means  to  entertain  a  bardic  company, — 
Let  such  be  the  condition  of  Bres." 

Poetic  satire  in  Ireland  was  supposed  to  have  a  kind 
of  magical  power.  Kings  dreaded  it ;  even  rats  could 
be  exterminated  by  it.1  This  quatrain  of  Corpry's  was 
repeated  with  delight  among  the  people,  and  Bres  had 
to  lay  down  his  sovranty.  This  was  said  to  be  the 
first  satire  ever  made  in  Ireland.  Meantime,  because 
Nuada  had  got  his  silver  hand  through  the  art  of  his 
physician  Diancecht,  or  because,  as  some  versions  of 
the  legend  say,  a  still  greater  healer,  the  son  of 
Diancecht,  had  made  the  veritable  hand  grow  again 
to  the  stump,  he  was  chosen  to  be  king  in  place  of 
Bres. 

The  latter  now  betook  himself  in  wrath  and  resent- 
ment to  his  mother  Eri,  and  begged  her  to  give  him 
counsel  and  to  tell  him  of  his  lineage.  Eri  then 
declared  to  him  that  his  father  was  Elatha,  a  king  of 
the  Fomorians,  who  had  come  to  her  secretly  from 
over  sea,  and  when  he  departed  had  given  her  a  ring, 
bidding  her  never  bestow  it  on  any  man  save  him 
whose  finger  it  would  fit.  She  now  brought  forth 
the  ring,  and  it  fitted  the   finger  of  Bres,  who  went 

1   Shakespeare  alludes  to  this  in  "  As  You  Like  It."     "  I  never 
was  so  be-rhymed,"  says  Rosalind,  "  since  Pythagoras'  time,  that  I 
was  an  Irish  rat — which  I  can  hardly  remember." 
108 


Corpre  and    King   Bres 


108 


THE  COMING  OF  LUGH 

down  with  her  to  the  strand  where  the  Fomorian  lover 
had  landed,  and  they  sailed  together  for  his  father's 
home. 

The  Tyranny  of  the  Fomorians 

Elatha  recognised  the  ring,  and  gave  his  son  an 
army  wherewith  to  reconquer  Ireland,  and  also  sent 
him  to  seek  further  aid  from  the  greatest  of  the 
Fomorian  kings,  Balor.  Now  Balor  was  surnamed 
"of  the  Evil  Eye,"  because  the  gaze  of  his  one  eye 
could  slay  like  a  thunderbolt  those  on  whom  he  looked 
in  anger.  He  was  now,  however,  so  old  and  feeble 
that  the  vast  eyelid  drooped  over  the  death-dealing  eye, 
and  had  to  be  lifted  up  by  his  men  with  ropes  and 
pulleys  when  the  time  came  to  turn  it  on  his  foes. 
Nuada  could  make  no  more  head  against  him  than 
Bres  had  done  when  king  ;  and  the  country  still  groaned 
under  the  oppression  of  the  Fomorians  and  longed  for 
a  champion  and  redeemer. 

The  Coming  of  Lugh 

A  new  figure  now  comes  into  the  myth,  no  other 
than  Lugh  son  of  Kian,  the  Sun-god  par  excellence 
of  all  Celtica,  whose  name  we  can  still  identify  in  many 
historic  sites  on  the  Continent.1  To  explain  his  appear- 
ance we  must  desert  for  a  moment  the  ancient  manu- 
script authorities,  which  are  here  incomplete,  and  have  to 
be  supplemented  by  a  folk-tale  which  was  fortunately 
discovered  and  taken  down  orally  so  late  as  the  nine- 
teenth century  by  the  great  Irish  antiquary,  O'Donovan.2 

1  Lyons,  Leyden,  Laon  were  all  in  ancient  times  known  as 
Lugudunum,  the  Fortress  of  Lugh.  Luguvallum  was  the  name  of  a 
town  near  Hadrian's  Wall  in  Roman  Britain. 

2  It  is  given  by  him  in  a  note  to  the  "  Four  Masters,"  vol.  i. 
p.  18,  and  is  also  reproduced  by  de  Jubainville. 

109 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

In  this  folk-tale  the  names  of  Balor  and  his  daughter 
Ethlinn  (the  latter  in  the  form  "Ethnea")  are 
preserved,  as  well  as  those  of  some  other  mythical 
personages,  but  that  of  the  father  of  Lugh  is  faintly 
echoed  in  MacKineely  ;  Lugh's  own  name  is  forgotten, 
and  the  death  of  Balor  is  given  in  a  manner  incon- 
sistent with  the  ancient  myth.  In  the  story  as  I  give 
it  here  the  antique  names  and  mythical  outline  are 
preserved,  but  are  supplemented  where  required  from 
the  folk-tale,  omitting  from  the  latter  those  modern 
features  which  are  not  reconcilable  with  the  myth. 

The  story,  then,  goes  that  Balor,  the  Fomorian  king, 
heard  in  a  Druidic  prophecy  that  he  would  be  slain  by 
his  grandson.  His  only  child  was  an  infant  daughter 
named  Ethlinn.  To  avert  the  doom  he,  like  Acrisios, 
father  of  Danae,  in  the  Greek  myth,  had  her  imprisoned 
in  a  high  tower  which  he  caused  to  be  built  on  a 
precipitous  headland,  the  Tor  Mor,  in  Tory  Island. 
He  placed  the  girl  in  charge  of  twelve  matrons,  who 
were  strictly  charged  to  prevent  her  from  ever  seeing 
the  face  of  man,  or  even  learning  that  there  were  any 
beings  of  a  different  sex  from  her  own.  In  this 
seclusion  Ethlinn  grew  up — as  all  sequestered  princesses 
do — into  a  maiden  of  surpassing  beauty. 

Now  it  happened  that  there  were  on  the  mainland 
three  brothers,  namely,  Kian,  Sawan,  and  Goban  the 
Smith,  the  great  armourer  and  artificer  of  Irish  myth, 
who  corresponds  to  Wayland  Smith  in  Germanic 
legend.  Kian  had  a  magical  cow,  whose  milk  was  so 
abundant  that  every  one  longed  to  possess  her,  and  he 
had  to  keep  her  strictly  under  protection. 

Balor  determined  to  possess  himself  of  this  cow. 
One  day  Kian  and  Sawan  had  come  to  the  forge  to 
have  some  weapons  made  for  them,  bringing  fine  steel 
for  that  purpose.  Kian  went  into  the  forge,  leaving 
no 


"  Sawan  gave  the  cow's  halter  to  the  boy 


THE  COMING  OF  LUGH 

Sawan  in  charge  of  the  cow.  Balor  now  appeared  on 
the  scene,  taking  on  himself  the  form  of  a  little  red- 
headed boy,  and  told  Sawan  that  he  had  overheard  the 
brothers  inside  the  forge  concocting  a  plan  for  using  all 
the  fine  steel  for  their  own  swords,  leaving  but  common 
metal  for  that  of  Sawan.  The  latter,  in  a  great  rage, 
gave  the  cow's  halter  to  the  boy  and  rushed  into  the 
forge  to  put  a  stop  to  this  nefarious  scheme.  Balor 
immediately  carried  off  the  cow,  and  dragged  her  across 
the  sea  to  Tory  Island. 

Kian  now  determined  to  avenge  himself  on  Balor, 
and  to  this  end  sought  the  advice  of  a  Druidess  named 
Birog.  Dressing  himself  in  woman's  garb,  he  was 
wafted  by  magical  spells  across  the  sea,  where  Birog,  who 
accompanied  him,  represented  to  Ethlinn's  guardians 
that  they  were  two  noble  ladies  cast  upon  the  shore 
in  escaping  from  an  abductor,  and  begged  for  shelter. 
They  were  admitted  ;  Kian  found  means  to  have  access 
to  the  Princess  Ethlinn  while  the  matrons  were  laid  by 
Birog  under  the  spell  of  an  enchanted  slumber,  and 
when  they  awoke  Kian  and  the  Druidess  had  vanished 
as  they  came.  But  Ethlinn  had  given  Kian  her  love, 
and  soon  her  guardians  found  that  she  was  with  child. 
Fearing  Balor's  wrath,  the  matrons  persuaded  her  that 
the  whole  transaction  was  but  a  dream,  and  said  nothing 
about  it ;  but  in  due  time  Ethlinn  was  delivered  of 
three  sons  at  a  birth. 

News  of  this  event  came  to  Balor,  and  in  anger  and 
fear  he  commanded  the  three  infants  to  be  drowned  in 
a  whirlpool  off  the  Irish  coast.  The  messenger  who 
was  charged  with  this  command  rolled  up  the  children 
in  a  sheet,  but  in  carrying  them  to  the  appointed  place 
the  pin  of  the  sheet  came  loose,  and  one  of  the  children 
dropped  out  and  fell  into  a  little  bay,  called  to  this  day 
Port  na  Delig,  or  the  Haven  of  the  Pin.     The  other  two 

in 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

were    duly    drowned,    and    the    servant    reported    his 
mission  accomplished. 

But  the  child  who  had  fallen  into  the  bay  was 
guarded  by  the  Druidess,  who  wafted  it  to  the  home 
of  its  father,  Kian,  and  Kian  gave  it  in  fosterage  to  his 
brother  the  smith,  who  taught  the  child  his  own  trade 
and  made  it  skilled  in  every  manner  of  craft  and  handi- 
work. This  child  was  Lugh.  When  he  was  grown  to 
a  youth  the  Danaans  placed  him  in  charge  of  Duach, 
"  The  Dark,"  king  of  the  Great  Plain  (Fairyland,  or  the 
"  Land  of  the  Living,"  which  is  also  the  Land  of  the 
Dead),  and  here  he  dwelt  till  he  reached  manhood. 

Lugh  was,  of  course,  the  appointed  redeemer  of  the 
Danaan  people  from  their  servitude.  His  coming  is 
narrated  in  a  story  which  brings  out  the  solar  attributes 
of  universal  power,  and  shows  him,  like  Apollo,  as  the 
presiding  deity  of  all  human  knowledge  and  of  all 
artistic  and  medicinal  skill.  He  came,  it  is  told,  to 
take  service  with  Nuada  of  the  Silver  Hand,  and  when 
the  doorkeeper  at  the  royal  palace  of  Tara  asked  him 
what  he  could  do,  he  answered  that  he  was  a  carpenter. 

"We  are  in  no  need  of  a  carpenter,"  said  the  door- 
keeper ;  "  we  have  an  excellent  one  in  Luchta  son  of 
Luchad."  "I  am  a  smith  too,"  said  Lugh.  "We 
have  a  master-smith,"  said  the  doorkeeper,  "already." 
"  Then  I  am  a  warrior,"  said  Lugh.  "  We  do  not 
need  one,"  said  the  doorkeeper,  "while  we  have 
Ogma."  Lugh  goes  on  to  name  all  the  occupations 
and  arts  he  can  think  of — he  is  a  poet,  a  harper,  a  man 
of  science,  a  physician,  a  spencer,  and  so  forth,  always 
receiving  the  answer  that  a  man  of  supreme  accom- 
plishment in  that  art  is  already  installed  at  the  court  of 
Nuada.  "  Then  ask  the  King,"  said  Lugh,  "if  he  has 
in  his  service  anyone  man  who  is  accomplished  in  every 
one  of  these  arts,  and  if  he  have,  1   shall  stay  here  no 


112 


"The    Druidess  wafted  it   to  the   home  of  its  father,   Kian  "      tis 


THE  QUEST  OF  THE  SONS  OF  TURENN 

longer,  nor  seek  to  enter  his  palace."  Upon  this  Lugh 
is  received,  and  the  surname  Ildanach  is  conferred  upon 
him,  meaning  "The  All- Craftsman,"  Prince  of  all  the 
Sciences  ;  while  another  name  that  he  commonly  bore 
was  Lugh  Lamfada,  or  Lugh  of  the  Long  Arm.  We 
are  reminded  here,  as  de  Jubainville  points  out,  of  the 
Gaulish  god  whom  Csesar  identifies  with  Mercury, 
"inventor  of  all  the  arts,"  and  to  whom  the  Gauls  put 
up  many  statues.  The  Irish  myth  supplements  this 
information  and  tells  us  the  Celtic  name  of  this  deity. 

When  Lugh  came  from  the  Land  of  the  Living  he 
brought  with  him  many  magical  gifts.  There  was  the 
Boat  of  Mananan,  son  of  Lir  the  Sea  God,  which  knew 
a  man's  thoughts  and  would  travel  whithersoever  he 
would,  and  the  Horse  of  Mananan,  that  could  go  alike 
over  land  and  sea,  and  a  terrible  sword  named  Fragarach 
("The  Answerer"),  that  could  cut  through  any  mail. 
So  equipped,  he  appeared  one  day  before  an  assembly 
of  the  Danaan  chiefs  who  were  met  to  pay  their  tribute 
to  the  envoys  of  the  Fomorian  oppressors  ;  and  when 
the  Danaans  saw  him,  they  felt,  it  is  said,  as  if  they 
beheld  the  rising  of  the  sun  on  a  dry  summer's  day. 
Instead  of  paying  the  tribute,  they,  under  Lugh's 
leadership,  attacked  the  Fomorians,  all  of  whom  were 
slain  but  nine  men,  and  these  were  sent  back  to  tellBalor 
that  the  Danaans  defied  him  and  would  pay  no  tribute 
henceforward.  Balor  then  made  him  ready  for  battle, 
and  bade  his  captains,  when  they  had  subdued  the 
Danaans,  make  fast  the  island  by  cables  to  their  ships 
and  tow  it  far  northward  to  the  Fomorian  regions  of 
ice  and  gloom,  where  it  would  trouble  them  no  longer. 

The  Quest  of  the  Sons  of  Turenn 

Lugh,  on  his  side,  also  prepared  for  the  final  combat ; 
but  to  ensure  victory  certain  magical  instruments  were 

h  113 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

still  needed  for  him,  and  these  had  now  to  be  obtained. 
The  story  of  the  quest  of  these  objects,  which  inci- 
dentally tells  us  also  of  the  end  of  Lugh's  father,  Kian, 
is  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  curious  in  Irish  legend, 
and  formed  one  of  a  triad  of  mythical  tales  which  were 
reckoned  as  the  flower  of  Irish  romance.1 

Kian,  the  story  goes,  was  sent  northward  by  Lugh  to 
summon  the  fighting  men  of  the  Danaans  in  Ulster  to 
the  hosting  against  the  Fomorians.  On  his  way,  as  he 
crosses  the  Plain  of  Murthemne,  near  Dundalk,  he 
meets  with  three  brothers,  Brian,  Iuchar,  and  Iucharba, 
sons  of  Turenn,  between  whose  house  and  that  of  Kian 
there  was  a  blood-feud.  He  seeks  to  avoid  them  by 
changing  into  the  form  of  a  pig  and  joining  a  herd 
which  is  rooting  in  the  plain,  but  the  brothers  detect 
him  and  Brian  wounds  him  with  a  cast  from  a  spear. 
Kian,  knowing  that  his  end  is  come,  begs  to  be  allowed 
to  change  back  into  human  form  before  he  is  slain. 
"I  had  liefer  kill  a  man  than  a  pig,"  says  Brian,  who 
takes  throughout  the  leading  part  in  all  the  brothers' 
adventures.  Kian  then  stands  before  them  as  a  man, 
with  the  blood  from  Brian's  spear  trickling  from  his 
breast.  "I  have  outwitted  ye,"  he  cries,  "for  if  ye 
had  slain  a  pig  ye  would  have  paid  but  the  eric  [blood- 
fine]  of  a  pig,  but  now  ye  shall  pay  the  eric  of  a  man  ; 
never  was  greater  eric  than  that  which  ye  shall  pay  ; 
and  the  weapons  ye  slay  me  with  shall  tell  the  tale  to 
the  avenger  of  blood." 

"  Then  you  shall  be  slain  with  no  weapons  at  all," 

1  The  other  two  were  "  The  Fate  of  the  Children  of  Lir  "  and 
"  The  Fate  of  the  Sons  of  Usna."  The  stories  of  the  Quest  of  the  Sons 
of  Turenn  and  that  of  the  Children  of  Lir  have  been  told  in  full  by 
the  author  in  his  "  High  Deeds  of  Finn  and  other  Bardic  Romances," 
and  that  of  the  "  Sons  of  Usna  "  (the  Deirdre  Legend)  by  Miss 
Eleanor  Hull  in  her  "  Cuchulain,"  both  published  by  Harrap  and  Co. 
II4 


The  Boat  of  Mananan 


114 


THE  QUEST  OF  THE  SONS  OF  TURENN 
says  Brian,  and  he  and  the  brothers  stone  him  to  death 
and  bury  him  in  the  ground  as  deep  as  the  height  of  a 
man. 

But  when  Lugh  shortly  afterwards  passes  that  way 
the  stones  on  the  plain  cry  out  and  tell  him  of  his 
father's  murder  at  the  hands  of  the  sons  of  Turenn. 
He  uncovers  the  body,  and,  vowing  vengeance,  returns 
to  Tara.  Here  he  accuses  the  sons  of  Turenn  before 
the  High  King,  and  is  permitted  to  have  them  executed, 
or  to  name  the  eric  he  will  accept  in  remission  of  that 
sentence.  Lugh  chooses  to  have  the  eric,  and  he  names 
it  as  follows,  concealing  things  of  vast  price,  and  in- 
volving unheard-of  toils,  under  the  names  of  common 
objects  :  Three  apples,  the  skin  of  a  pig,  a  spear,  a 
chariot  with  two  horses,  seven  swine,  a  hound,  a 
cooking-spit,  and,  finally,  to  give  three  shouts  on  a  hill. 
The  brothers  bind  themselves  to  pay  the  fine,  and 
Lugh  then  declares  the  meaning  of  it.  The  three 
apples  are  those  which  grow  in  the  Garden  of  the  Sun  ; 
the  pig-skin  is  a  magical  skin  which  heals  every  wound 
and  sickness  if  it  can  be  laid  on  the  sufferer,  and  it  is  a 
possession  of  the  King  of  Greece  ;  the  spear  is  a  magical 
weapon  owned  by  the  King  of  Persia  (these  names,  of 
course,  are  mere  fanciful  appellations  for  places  in  the 
mysterious  world  of  Faery)  ;  the  seven  swine  belong  to 
King  Asal  of  the  Golden  Pillars,  and  may  be  killed  and 
eaten  every  night  and  yet  be  found  whole  next  day  ; 
the  spit  belongs  to  the  sea-nymphs  of  the  sunken  Island 
of  Finchory  ;  and  the  three  shouts  are  to  be  given  on 
the  hill  of  a  fierce  warrior,  Mochaen,  who,  with  his  sons, 
are  under  vows  to  prevent  any  man  from  raising  his 
voice  on  that  hill.  To  fulfil  any  one  of  these  enterprises 
would  be  an  all  but  impossible  task,  and  the  brothers 
must  accomplish  them  all  before  they  can  clear  them- 
selves of  the  guilt  and  penalty  of  Kian's  death. 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC   RACE 

The   story  then   goes   on   to   tell  how  with  infinite 
daring  and  resource  the  sons  of  Turenn  accomplish  one 
by  one  all  their  tasks,  but  when  all  are  done  save  the 
capture  of  the  cooking-spit  and  the  three  shouts  on  the 
Hill  of  Mochaen,  Lugh,  by  magical  arts,  causes  forget- 
fulness  to  fall  upon  them,  and  they  return  to  Ireland 
with  their  treasures.     These,  especially  the  spear  and 
the  pig-skin,  are  just  what  Lugh  needs  to  help  him 
ao-ainst  the  Fomorians  ;  but  his  vengeance  is  not  com- 
plete, and  after  receiving  the  treasures  he  reminds  the 
brothers    of  what    is   yet  to  be  won.     They,  in  deep 
dejection,  now  begin  to  understand  how  they  are  played 
with,  and  go  forth  sadly  to  win,  if  they  can,  the  rest  of 
the  eric.     After  long  wandering  they  discover  that  the 
Island  of  Finchory  is  not  above,  but  under   the   sea. 
Brian  in  a  magical  "water-dress"  goes  down  to  it,  sees 
the  thrice  fifty  nymphs  in  their  palace,  and  seizes  the 
golden  spit  from  their  hearth.     The  ordeal  of  the  Hill 
of   Mochaen    is    the    last    to    be    attempted.     After  a 
desperate  combat  which  ends  in  the  slaying  of  Mochaen 
and  his  sons,  the  brothers,  mortally  wounded,  uplift 
their  voices   in   three   faint   cries,  and   so    the    eric    is 
fulfilled.     The  life  is  still  in  them,  however,  when  they 
return  to  Ireland,  and  their  aged  father,  Turenn,  implores 
Lugh  for  the  loan  of  the  magic  pig-skin  to  heal  them  ; 
but  the  implacable  Lugh  refuses,  and  the  brothers  and 
their  father  die  together.     So  ends  the  tale. 

The  Second  Battle  of  Moytura 

The  Second  Battle  of  Moytura  took  place  on  a  plain 
in  the  north  of  Co.  Sligo,  which  is  remarkable  for  the 
number  of  sepulchral  monuments  still  scattered  over  it. 
The  first  battle,  of  course,  was  that-which  the  Danaans 
had  waged  with  the  Firbolgs,  and  the  Moytura  there 
referred  to  was  much  further  south,  in  Co.  Mayo. 
116 


THE  DEATH  OF  BALOR 

The  battle  with  the  Fomorians  is  related  with  an 
astounding  wealth  of  marvellous  incident.  The  crafts- 
men of  the  Danaans,  Goban  the  smith,  Credne  the 
artificer  (or  goldsmith),  and  Luchta  the  carpenter,  keep 
repairing  the  broken  weapons  of  the  Danaans  with 
magical  speed — three  blows  of  Goban's  hammer  make 
a  spear  or  sword,  Luchta  flings  a  handle  at  it  and  it 
sticks  on  at  once,  and  Credne  jerks  the  rivets  at  it  with 
his  tongs  as  fast  as  he  makes  them  and  they  fly  into 
their  places.  The  wounded  are  healed  by  the  magical 
pig-skin.  The  plain  resounds  with  the  clamour  of 
battle  : 

"  Fearful  indeed  was  the  thunder  which  rolled  over 
the  battlefield  ;  the  shouts  of  the  warriors,  the  breaking 
of  the  shields,  the  flashing  and  clashing  of  the  swords, 
of  the  straight,  ivory-hilted  swords,  the  music  and 
harmony  of  the  '  belly-darts '  and  the  sighing  and 
winging  of  the  spears  and  lances."1 

The  Death  of  Balor 

The  Fomorians  bring  on  their  champion,  Balor, 
before  the  glance  of  whose  terrible  eye  Nuada  of  the 
Silver  Hand  and  others  of  the  Danaans  go  down. 
But  Lugh,  seizing  an  opportunity  when  the  eyelid 
drooped  through  weariness,  approached  close  to  Balor, 
and  as  it  began  to  lift  once  more  he  hurled  into  the  eye 
a  great  stone  which  sank  into  the  brain,  and  Balor  lay 
dead,  as  the  prophecy  had  foretold,  at  the  hand  of  his 
grandson.  The  Fomorians  were  then  totally  routed, 
and  it  is  not  recorded  that  they  ever  again  gained  any 
authority  or  committed  any  extensive  depredations  in 
Ireland.  Lugh,  the  Ildanach,  was  then  enthroned  in 
place  of  Nuada,  and  the  myth  of  the  victory  of  the  solar 

1  O'Curry's  translation  from  the  bardic  tale,  "  The  Battle  of 
Moytura." 

II7 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

hero  over  the  powers  of  darkness  and  brute  force  is 
complete. 

The  Harp  of  the  Dagda 

A  curious  little  incident  bearing  on  the  power  which 
the  Danaans  could  exercise  by  the  spell  of  music  may 
here  be  inserted.  The  flying  Fomorians,  it  is  told,  had 
made  prisoner  the  harper  of  the  Dagda  and  carried  him 
off  with  them.  Lugh,  the  Dagda,  and  the  warrior 
Ogma  followed  them,  and  came  unknown  into  the 
banqueting-hall  of  the  Fomorian  camp.  There  they 
saw  the  harp  hanging  on  the  wall.  The  Dagda  called 
to  it,  and  immediately  it  flew  into  his  hands,  killing 
nine  men  of  the  Fomorians  on  its  way.  The  Dagda's 
invocation  of  the  harp  is  very  singular,  and  not  a  little 
puzzling  : 

"Come,  apple-sweet  murmurer,"  he  cries,  "come, 
four-angled  frame  of  harmony,  come,  Summer,  come, 
Winter,  from  the  mouths  of  harps  and  bags  and 
pipes.    * 

The  allusion  to  summer  and  winter  suggests  the 
practice  in  Indian  music  of  allotting  certain  musical 
modes  to  the  different  seasons  of  the  year  (and  even  to 
different  times  of  day),  and  also  an  Egyptian  legend 
referred  to  in  Burney's  "  History  of  Music,"  where  the 
three  strings  of  the  lyre  were  supposed  to  answer 
respectively  to  the  three  seasons,  spring,  summer,  and 
winter.2 

When  the  Dagda  got  possession  of  the  harp,  the  tale 
goes  on,   he  played   on   it  the   "three  noble  strains" 

1  O'Curry,  "Manners  and  Customs,"  iii.  214. 

2  The  ancient  Irish  division  of  the  year  contained  only  these  three 
seasons,  including  autumn  in  summer  (O'Curry,  "  Manners  and 
Customs,"  iii.  217). 

Il8 


"At  the  revels  of  the   Fairy  Folk 


118 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  DANAAN  DEITIES 

which  every  great  master  of  the  harp  should  command, 
namely,  the  Strain  of  Lament,  which  caused  the  hearers 
to  weep,  the  Strain  of  Laughter,  which  made  them 
merry,  and  the  Strain  of  Slumber,  or  Lullaby,  which 
plunged  them  all  in  a  profound  sleep.  And  under 
cover  of  that  sleep  the  Danaan  champion  stole  out  and 
escaped.  It  may  be  observed  that  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  legendary  literature  of  Ireland  skill  in 
music,  the  art  whose  influence  most  resembles  that  of  a 
mysterious  spell  or  gift  of  Faery,  is  the  prerogative  of 
the  People  of  Dana  and  their  descendants.  Thus  in 
the  "  Colloquy  of  the  Ancients,"  a  collection  of  tales 
made  about  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century,  St. 
Patrick  is  introduced  to  a  minstrel,  Cascorach,  "a  hand- 
some, curly-headed,  dark-browed  youth,"  who  plays  so 
sweet  a  strain  that  the  saint  and  his  retinue  all  fall 
asleep.  Cascorach,  we  are  told,  was  son  of  a  minstrel 
of  the  Danaan  folk.  St.  Patrick's  scribe,  Brogan,  remarks, 
"A  good  cast  of  thine  art  is  that  thou  gavest  us." 
"  Good  indeed  it  were,"  said  Patrick,  "but  for  a  twang 
of  the  fairy  spell  that  infests  it  ;  barring  which  nothing 
could  more  nearly  resemble  heaven's  harmony." 1 
Some  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  antique  Irish  folk- 
melodies, — e.g.,  the  Coulin — are  traditionally  supposed 
to  have  been  overheard  by  mortal  harpers  at  the  revels 
of  the  Fairy  Folk. 

Names  and  Characteristics  of  the  Danaan  Deities 

I  may  conclude  this  narrative  of  the  Danaan  conquest 
with  some  account  of  the  principal  Danaan  gods  and 
their  attributes,  which  will  be  useful  to  readers  of  the 
subsequent  pages.  The  best  with  which  I  am  acquainted 
is  to   be  found  in  Mr.  Standish   O'Grady's  "  Critical 

1  S.  H.  O'Grady,  «  Silva  Gadelica,"  p.  191. 

119 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

History  of  Ireland." x  This  work  is  no  less  remark- 
able for  its  critical  insight — it  was  published  in  1881, 
when  scientific  study  of  the  Celtic  mythology  was  little 
heard  of — than  for  the  true  bardic  imagination,  kindred 
to  that  of  the  ancient  myth-makers  themselves,  which 
recreates  the  dead  forms  of  the  past  and  dilates  them 
with  the  breath  of  life.  The  broad  outlines  in  which 
Mr.  O'Grady  has  laid  down  the  typical  characteristics 
of  the  chief  personages  in  the  Danaan  cycle  hardly 
need  any  correction  at  this  day,  and  have  been  of  much 
use  to  me  in  the  following  summary  of  the  subject. 

The  Dagda 

The  Dagda  Mor  was  the  father  and  chief  of  the 
People  of  Dana.  A  certain  conception  of  vastness 
attaches  to  him  and  to  his  doings.  In  the  Second 
Battle  of  Moytura  his  blows  sweep  down  whole  ranks 
of  the  enemy,  and  his  spear,  when  he  trails  it  on  the 
march,  draws  a  furrow  in  the  ground  like  the  fosse 
which  marks  the  mearing  of  a  province.  An  element 
of  grotesque  humour  is  present  in  some  of  the  records 
about  this  deity.  When  the  Fomorians  give  him  food 
on  his  visit  to  their  camp,  the  porridge  and  milk  are 
poured  into  a  great  pit  in  the  ground,  and  he  eats  it 
with  a  spoon  big  enough,  it  was  said,  for  a  man  and 
a  woman  to  lie  together  in  it.  With  this  spoon  he 
scrapes  the  pit,  when  the  porridge  is  done,  and  shovels 
earth  and  gravel  unconcernedly  down  his  throat.  We 
have  already  seen  that,  like  all  the  Danaans,  he  is  a 
master  of  music,  as  well  as  of  other  magical  endow- 
ments, and  owns  a  harp  which  comes  flying  through 
the  air  at  his  call.  "  The  tendency  to  attribute  life  to 
inanimate  things  is  apparent  in  the  Homeric  literature, 
but  exercises  a  very  great  influence  in  the  mythology 

1  Pp.  104  sqq..,  and  passim. 
120 


ANGUS  OG 
of  this  country.  The  living,  fiery  spear  of  Lugh  ;  the 
magic  ship  of  Mananan  ;  the  sword  of  Conary  Mor, 
which  sang  ;  Cuchulain's  sword,  which  spoke  ;  the  Lia 
Fail,  Stone  of  Destiny,  which  roared  for  joy  beneath 
the  feet  of  rightful  kings  ;  the  waves  of  the  ocean, 
roaring  with  rage  and  sorrow  when  such  kings  are  in 
jeopardy  ;  the  waters  of  the  Avon  Dia,  holding  back 
for  fear  at  the  mighty  duel  between  Cuchulain  and 
Ferdia,  are  but  a  few  out  of  many  examples."1  A 
legend  of  later  times  tells  how  once,  at  the  death  of  a 
great  scholar,  all  the  books  in  Ireland  fell  from  their 
shelves  upon  the  floor. 

Angus  Og 

Angus  Og  (Angus  the  Young),  son  of  the  Dagda, 
by  Boanna  (the  river  Boyne),  was  the  Irish  god  of 
love.  His  palace  was  supposed  to  be  at  New  Grange, 
on  the  Boyne.  Four  bright  birds  that  ever  hovered 
about  his  head  were  supposed  to  be  his  kisses  taking 
shape  in  this  lovely  form,  and  at  their  singing  love 
came  springing  up  in  the  hearts  of  youths  and 
maidens.  Once  he  fell  sick  of  love  for  a  maiden  whom 
he  had  seen  in  a  dream.  He  told  the  cause  of  his 
sickness  to  his  mother  Boanna,  who  searched  all  Ireland 
for  the  girl,  but  could  not  find  her.  Then  the  Dagda 
was  called  in,  but  he  too  was  at  a  loss,  till  he  called  to 
his  aid  Bov  the  Red,  king  of  the  Danaans  of  Munster 
— the  same  whom  we  have  met  with  in  the  tale  of  the 
Children  of  Lir,  and  who  was  skilled  in  all  mysteries 
and  enchantments.  Bov  undertook  the  search,  and  after 
a  year  had  gone  by  declared  that  he  had  found  the 
visionary  maiden  at  a  lake  called  the  Lake  of  the 
Dragon's  Mouth. 

1  O'Grady,  he.  at. 

121 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Angus  goes  to  Bov,  and,  after  being  entertained  by 
him  three  days,  is  brought  to  the  lake  shore,  where  he 
sees  thrice  fifty  maidens  walking  in  couples,  each  couple 
linked  by  a  chain  of  gold,  but  one  of  them  is  taller  than 
the  rest  by  a  head  and  shoulders.  "  That  is  she  !  " 
cries  Angus.  "Tell  us  by  what  name  she  is  known." 
Bov  answers  that  her  name  is  Caer,  daughter  of  Ethal 
Anubal,  a  prince  of  the  Danaans  of  Connacht.  Angus 
laments  that  he  is  not  strong  enough  to  carry  her  off 
from  her  companions,  but,  on  Bov's  advice,  betakes 
himself  to  Ailell  and  Maev,  the  mortal  King  and  Queen 
of  Connacht,  for  assistance.  The  Dagda  and  Angus 
then  both  repair  to  the  palace  of  Ailell,  who  feasts  them 
for  a  week,  and  then  asks  the  cause  of  their  coming. 
When  it  is  declared  he  answers,  "  We  have  no  authority 
over  Ethal  Anubal."  They  send  a  message  to  him, 
however,  asking  for  the  hand  of  Caer  for  Angus,  but 
Ethal  refuses  to  give  her  up.  In  the  end  he  is  besieged 
by  the  combined  forces  of  Ailell  and  the  Dagda,  and 
taken  prisoner.  When  Caer  is  again  demanded  of  him 
he  declares  that  he  cannot  comply,  "for  she  is  more 
powerful  than  I."  He  explains  that  she  lives  alter- 
nately in  the  form  of  a  maiden  and  of  a  swan  year  and 
year  about,  "  and  on  the  first  of  November  next,"  he 
says,  "you  will  see  her  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  other 
swans  at  the  Lake  of  the  Dragon's  Mouth." 

Angus  goes  there  at  the  appointed  time,  and  cries  to 
her,  "  Oh,  come  and  speak  tome!"  "  Who  calls  me  ? " 
asks  Caer.  Angus  explains  who  he  is,  and  then  finds 
himself  transformed  into  a  swan.  This  is  an  indication 
of  consent,  and  he  plunges  in  to  join  his  love  in  the 
lake.  After  that  they  fly  together  to  the  palace  on  the 
Boyne,  uttering  as  they  go  a  music  so  divine  that  all 
hearers  are  lulled  to  sleep  for  three  days  and  nights. 
Angus  is  the  special  deity  and  friend  of  beautiful 

122 


"Here  by  the  lake  he  wrought" 


LUGH 

youths  and  maidens.  Dermot  of  the  Love-spot,  a 
follower  of  Finn  mac  Cumhal,  and  lover  of  Grama,  of 
whom  we  shall  hear  later,  was  bred  up  with  Angus  in 
the  palace  on  the  Boyne.  He  was  the  typical  lover  of 
Irish  legend.  When  he  was  slain  by  the  wild  boar  ot 
Ben  Bulben,  Angus  revives  him  and  carries  him  off  to 
share  his  immortality  in  his  fairy  palace. 

Len  of  Killarney 

Of  Bov  the  Red,  brother  of  the  Dagda,  we  have 
already  heard.  He  had,  it  is  said,  a  goldsmith  named 
Len,  who  "  gave  their  ancient  name  to  the  Lakes  of 
Killarney,  once  known  as  Locha  Lein,  the  Lakes  of  Len 
of  the  Many  Hammers.  Here  by  the  lake  he  wrought, 
surrounded  by  rainbows  and  showers  of  fiery  dew." * 

Lugh 

Lugh  has  already  been  described.2  He  has  more 
distinctly  solar  attributes  than  any  other  Celtic  deity  ; 
and,  as  we  know,  his  worship  was  spread  widely  over 
Continental  Celtica.  In  the  tale  of  the  Quest  of  the 
Sons  of  Turenn  we  are  told  that  Lugh  approached  the 
Fomorians  from  the  west.  Then  Bres,  son  of  Balor, 
arose  and  said  :  "  I  wonder  that  the  sun  is  rising  in  the 
west  to-day,  and  in  the  east  every  other  day."  "  Would 
it  were  so,"  said  his  Druids.  "Why,  what  else  but 
the  sun  is  it  ?"  said  Bres.  "It  is  the  radiance  of  the 
face  of  Lugh  of  the  Long  Arm,"  they  replied. 

Lugh  was  the  father,  by  the  Milesian  maiden 
Dectera,  of  Cuchulain,  the  most  heroic  figure  in  Irish 
legend,  in  whose  story  there  is  evidently  a  strong 
element  of  the  solar  myth.3 

1  O'Grady,  loc.  at.  2  See  p.  112. 

3  Miss  Hull  has  discussed  this  subject  fully  in  the  introduction  to 
her  invaluable  work,  "  The  Cuchulain  Saga." 

123 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Midir  the  Proud 

Midir  the  Proud  is  a  son  of  the  Dagda.  His 
fairy  palace  is  at  Bri  Leit/i,  or  Slieve  Callary,  in  Co. 
Longford.  He  frequently  appears  in  legends  dealing 
partly  with  human,  partly  with  Danaan  personages, 
and  is  always  represented  as  a  type  of  splendour  in  his 
apparel  and  in  personal  beauty.  When  he  appears 
to  King  Eochy  on  the  Hill  of  Tara  he  is  thus 
described  : x 

"  It  chanced  that  Eochaid  Airemm,  the  King  of  Tara, 
arose  upon  a  certain  fair  day  in  the  time  of  summer  ; 
and  he  ascended  the  high  ground  of  Tara2  to  behold  the 
plain  of  Breg  ;  beautiful  was  the  colour  of  that  plain, 
and  there  was  upon  it  excellent  blossom  glowing  with 
all  hues  that  are  known.  And  as  the  aforesaid  Eochy 
looked  about  and  around  him,  he  saw  a  young  strange 
warrior  upon  the  high  ground  at  his  side.  The  tunic 
that  the  warrior  wore  was  purple  in  colour,  his  hair 
was  of  a  golden  yellow,  and  of  such  length  that  it 
reached  to  the  edge  of  his  shoulders.  The  eyes  of  the 
young  warrior  were  lustrous  and  grey ;  in  the  one 
hand  he  held  a  fine  pointed  spear,  in  the  other  a  shield 
with  a  white  central  boss,  and  with  gems  of  gold  upon 
it.  And  Eochaid  held  his  peace,  for  he  knew  that  none 
such  had  been  in  Tara  on  the  night  before,  and  the 
gate  that  led  into  the  Liss  had  not  at  that  time  been 
thrown  open."3 

1  See  the  tale  of"  Etain  and  Midir,"  in  Chap.  IV. 

2  The  name  Tara  is  derived  from  an  oblique  case  of  the  nomina- 
tive Teamhair,  meaning  "the  place  of  the  wide  prospect."  It  is  now 
a  broad  grassy  hill,  in  Co.  Meath,  covered  with  earthworks  repre- 
senting the  sites  of  the  ancient  royal  buildings,  which  can  all  be 
clearly  located  from  ancient  descriptions. 

3  A.  H.  Leahy,  "  Heroic  Romances,"  i.  27. 
124 


LIR  AND  MANANAN 

Lir  and  Mananan 

Lir,  as  Mr.  O'Grady  remarks,  "  appears  in  two 
distinct  forms.  In  the  first  he  is  a  vast,  impersonal 
presence  commensurate  with  the  sea ;  in  fact,  the 
Greek  Oceanus.  In  the  second,  he  is  a  separate  person 
dwelling  invisibly  on  Slieve  Fuad,"  in  Co.  Armagh. 
We  hear  little  of  him  in  Irish  legend,  where  the  attri- 
butes of  the  sea-god  are  mostly  conferred  on  his  son, 
Mananan. 

This  deity  is  one  of  the  most  popular  in  Irish 
mythology.  He  was  lord  of  the  sea,  beyond  or  under 
which  the  Land  of  Youth  or  Islands  of  the  Dead  were 
supposed  to  lie  ;  he  therefore  was  the  guide  of  man  to 
this  country.  He  was  master  of  tricks  and  illusions, 
and  owned  all  kinds  of  magical  possessions — the  boat 
named  Ocean-sweeper,  which  obeyed  the  thought  of 
those  who  sailed  in  it  and  went  without  oar  or  sail,  the 
steed  Aonbarr,  which  could  travel  alike  on  sea  or  land, 
and  the  sword  named  The  Answerer,  which  no  armour 
could  resist.  White-crested  waves  were  called  the 
Horses  of  Mananan,  and  it  was  forbidden  {tabu)  for 
the  solar  hero,  Cuchulain,  to  perceive  them — this  indi- 
cated the  daily  death  of  the  sun  at  his  setting  in  the 
western  waves.  Mananan  wore  a  great  cloak  which 
was  capable  of  taking  on  every  kind  of  colour,  like 
the  widespread  field  of  the  sea  as  looked  on  from 
a  height  ;  and  as  the  protector  of  the  island  of  Erin 
it  was  said  that  when  any  hostile  force  invaded  it 
they  heard  his  thunderous  tramp  and  the  flapping 
of  his  mighty  cloak  as  he  marched  angrily  round  and 
round  their  camp  at  night.  The  Isle  of  Man,  seen 
dimly  from  the  Irish  coast,  was  supposed  to  be  the 
throne  of  Mananan,  and  to  take  its  name  from  this 
deity. 

125 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  Goddess  Dana 

The  greatest  of  the  Danaan  goddesses  was  Dana, 
"mother  of  the  Irish  gods,"  as  she  is  called  in  an  early 
text.  She  was  daughter  of  the  Dagda,  and,  like  him,  asso- 
ciated with  ideas  of  fertility  and  blessing.  According 
to  d'Arbois  de  Jubainville,  she  was  identical  with  the 
goddess  Brigit,  who  was  so  widely  worshipped  in 
Celtica.  Brian,  Iuchar,  and  Iucharba  are  said  to  have 
been  her  sons — these  really  represent  but  one  person, 
in  the  usual  Irish  fashion  of  conceiving  the  divine 
power  in  triads.  The  name  of  Brian,  who  takes  the 
lead  in  all  the  exploits  of  the  brethren,1  is  a  derivation 
from  a  more  ancient  form,  Brenos,  and  under  this 
form  was  the  god  to  whom  the  Celts  attributed  their 
victories  at  the  Allia  and  at  Delphi,  mistaken  by 
Roman  and  Greek  chroniclers  for  an  earthly  leader. 

The  Morrigan 

There  was  also  an  extraordinary  goddess  named  the 
Morrigan,2  who  appears  to  embody  all  that  is  perverse 
and  horrible  among  supernatural  powers.  She  delighted 
in  setting  men  at  war,  and  fought  among  them  herself, 
changing  into  many  frightful  shapes  and  often  hovering 
above  fighting  armies  in  the  aspect  of  a  crow.  She  met 
Cuchulain  once  and  proffered  him  her  love  in  the  guise 
of  a  human  maid.  He  refused  it,  and  she  persecuted 
him  thenceforward  for  the  most  of  his  life.  Warring 
with  him  once  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  she  turned 
herself  into  a  water-serpent,  and  then  into  a  mass  of 
water-weeds,  seeking  to  entangle  and  drown  him.  But 
he    conquered  and  wounded  her,  and  she  afterwards 

1  See  p.  114. 

2  I  cannot  agree  with  Mr.  O'Grady's  identification  of  this  goddess 
with  Dana,  though  the  name  appears  to  mean  "  The  Great  Queen." 
126 


THE  GODDESS  AINE 

became  his  friend.  Before  his  last  battle  she  passed 
through  Emain  Macha  at  night,  and  broke  the  pole  of 
his  chariot  as  a  warning. 

Cleena's  "Wave 

One  of  the  most  notable  landmarks  of  Ireland  was  the 
Tonn  Cliodhna,  or  "Wave  of  Cleena,"  on  the  seashore 
at  Glandore  Bay,  in  Co.  Cork.  The  story  about  Cleena 
exists  in  several  versions,  which  do  not  agree  with  each 
other  except  in  so  far  as  she  seems  to  have  been  a 
Danaan  maiden  once  living  in  Mananan's  country,  the 
Land  of  Youth  beyond  the  sea.  Escaping  thence  with 
a  mortal  lover,  as  one  of  the  versions  tells,  she  landed 
on  the  southern  coast  of  Ireland,  and  her  lover,  Keevan 
of  the  Curling  Locks,  went  off  to  hunt  in  the  woods. 
Cleena,  who  remained  on  the  beach,  was  lulled  to  sleep 
by  fairy  music  played  by  a  minstrel  of  Mananan,  when 
a  great  wave  of  the  sea  swept  up  and  carried  her  back 
to  Fairyland,  leaving  her  lover  desolate.  Hence  the 
place  was  called  the  Strand  of  Cleena's  Wave. 

The  Goddess  Aine 

Another  topical  goddess  was  Aine,  the  patroness 
of  Munster,  who  is  still  venerated  by  the  people 
of  that  county.  She  was  the  daughter  of  the  Danaan 
Owel,  a  foster-son  of  Mananan  and  a  Druid.  She 
is  in  some  sort  a  love-goddess,  continually  inspiring 
mortals  with  passion.  She  was  ravished,  it  was  said, 
by  Ailill  Olum,  King  of  Munster,  who  was  slain  in 
consequence  by  her  magic  arts,  and  the  story  is  re- 
peated in  far  later  times  about  another  mortal  lover, 
who  was  not,  however,  slain,  a  Fitzgerald,  to  whom  she 
bore  the  famous  wizard  Earl.1      Many  of  the  aristocratic 

1  Gerald,  the  fourth  Earl  of  Desmond.  He  disappeared,  it  is  said, 
in  1398,  and  the  legend  goes  that  he  still  lives  beneath  the  waters  of 

127 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

families  of  Mimster  claimed  descent  from  this  union. 
Her  name  still  clings  to  the  "  Hill  of  Aine  "  (Knock- 
ainey),  near  Loch  Gur,  in  Munster.  All  the  Danaan 
deities  in  the  popular  imagination  were  earth-gods,  dei 
terreniy  associated  with  ideas  of  fertility  and  increase. 
Aine  is  not  heard  much  of  in  the  bardic  literature, 
but  she  is  very  prominent  in  the  folk-lore  of  the 
neighbourhood.  At  the  bidding  of  her  son,  Earl 
Gerald,  she  planted  all  Knockainey  with  pease  in  a 
single  night.  She  was,  and  perhaps  still  is,  worshipped 
on  Midsummer  Eve  by  the  peasantry,  who  carried 
torches  of  hay  and  straw,  tied  on  poles  and  lighted,  round 
her  hill  at  night.  Afterwards  they  dispersed  themselves 
among  their  cultivated  fields  and  pastures,  waving  the 
torches  over  the  crops  and  the  cattle  to  bring  luck  and 
increase  for  the  following  year.  On  one  night,  as  told 
by  Mr.  D.  Fitzgerald,1  who  has  collected  the  local  tradi- 
tions about  her,  the  ceremony  was  omitted  owing  to  the 
death  of  one  of  the  neighbours.  Yet  the  peasantry  at 
night  saw  the  torches  in  greater  number  than  ever 
circling  the  hill,  and  Aine  herself  in  front,  directing  and 
ordering  the  procession. 

"  On  another  St.  John's  Night  a  number  of  girls  had 
stayed  late  on  the  Hill  watching  the  cliars  (torches)  and 
joining  in  the  games.  Suddenly  Aine  appeared  among 
them,  thanked  them  for  the  honour  they  had  done  her, 
but  said  she  now  wished  them  to  go  home,  as  they  wanted 
the  hill  to  themselves.     She  let  them  understand  whom  she 

Loch  Gur,  and  may  be  seen  riding  round  its  banks  on  his  white  steed 
once  every  seven  years.  He  was  surnamed  "  Gerald  the  Poet "  from 
the  "  witty  and  ingenious  "  verses  he  composed  in  Gaelic.  Wizardry, 
poetry,  and  science  were  all  united  in  one  conception  in  the  mind  of 
the  ancient  Irish. 

1  "  Popular   Tales    of  Ireland,"    by    D.    Fitzgerald,   in  "  Revue 
Celtique,"  vol.  iv. 
128 


o 


Q 


c 


^ 


Sinend  and  Connla's  Well 


I  jH 


SINEND  AND  THE  WELL  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

meant  by  they,  for  calling  some  of  the  girls  she  made 
them  look  through  a  ring,  when  behold,  the  hill 
appeared  crowded  with  people  before  invisible." 

"Here,"  observed  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt,  "we  have  the 
antique  ritual  carried  out  on  a  spot  hallowed  to  one  of 
the  antique  powers,  watched  over  and  shared  in  by 
those  powers  themselves.  Nowhere  save  in  Gaeldom 
could  be  found  such  a  pregnant  illustration  of  the 
identity  of  the  fairy  class  with  the  venerable  powers 
to  ensure  whose  goodwill  rites  and  sacrifices,  originally 
fierce  and  bloody,  now  a  mere  simulacrum  of  their 
pristine  form,  have  been  performed  for  countless  ages."  x 

Sinend  and  the  Well  of  Knowledge 

There  is  a  singular  myth  which,  while  intended  to 
account  for  the  name  of  the  river  Shannon,  expresses 
the  Celtic  veneration  for  poetry  and  science,  combined 
with  the  warning  that  they  may  not  be  approached 
without  danger.  The  goddess  Sinend,  it  was  said, 
daughter  of  Lodan  son  of  Lir,  went  to  a  certain  well 
named  Connla's  Well,  which  is  under  the  sea — i.e.,  in 
the  Land  of  Youth  in  Fairyland.  "  That  is  a  well," 
says  the  bardic  narrative,  "at  which  are  the  hazels 
of  wisdom  and  inspirations,  that  is,  the  hazels  of 
the  science  of  poetry,  and  in  the  same  hour  their  fruit 
and  their  blossom  and  their  foliage  break  forth,  and 
then  fall  upon  the  well  in  the  same  shower,  which  raises 
upon  the  water  a  royal  surge  of  purple."  When 
Sinend  came  to  the  well  we  are  not  told  what  rites  or 
preparation  she  had  omitted,  but  the  angry  waters  broke 
forth  and  overwhelmed  her,  and  washed  her  up  on  the 
Shannon  shore,  where  she  died,  giving  to  the  river  its 
name.2      This    myth  of  the  hazels  of  inspiration  and 

1  "The  Voyage  of  Bran,"  vol.  ii.  p.  219. 

2  In  Irish,  Sionnain. 

1  129 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

knowledge  and  their  association  with  springing  water 
runs  through  all  Irish  legend,  and  has  been  finely 
treated  by  a  living  Irish  poet,  Mr.  G.  W.  Russell,  in 
the  following  verses  : 

"  A  cabin  on  the  mountain-side  hid  in  a  grassy  nook, 
With  door  and  window  open  wide,  where  friendly  stars  may  look  ; 
The  rabbit  shy  may  patter  in,  the  winds  may  enter  free 
Who  roam  around  the  mountain  throne  in  living  ecstasy. 

"  And  when  the  sun  sets  dimmed  in  eve,  and  purple  fills  the  air, 
I  think  the  sacred  hazel-tree  is  dropping  berries  there, 
From  starry  fruitage,  waved  aloft  where  Connla's  Well  o'erflows  ; 
For  sure,  the  immortal  waters  run  through  every  wind  that  blows. 

"  I  think  when  Night  towers  up  aloft  and  shakes  the  trembling  dew, 
How  every  high  and  lonely  thought  that  thrills  my  spirit  through 
Is  but  a  shining  berry  dropped  down  through  the  purple  air, 
And  from  the  magic  tree  of  life  the  fruit  falls  everywhere." 

The  Coming  of  the  Milesians 

After  the  Second  Battle  of  Moytura  the  Danaans  held 
rule  in  Ireland  until  the  coming  of  the  Milesians,  the 
sons  of  Miled.  These  are  conceived  in  Irish  legend  as 
an  entirely  human  race,  yet  in  their  origin  they,  like 
the  other  invaders  of  Ireland,  go  back  to  a  divine  and 
mythical  ancestry.  Miled,  whose  name  occurs  as  a  god 
in  a  Celtic  inscription  from  Hungary,  is  represented  as 
a  son  of  Bile.  Bile,  like  Balor,  is  one  of  the  names  of 
the  god  of  Death,  i.e.,  of  the  Underworld.  They  come 
from  "  Spain  " — the  usual  term  employed  by  the  later 
rationalising  historians  for  the  Land  of  the  Dead. 

The  manner  of  their  coming  into  Ireland  was  as 
follows  :  Ith,  the  grandfather  of  Miled,  dwelt  in  a  great 
tower  which  his  father,  Bregon,  had  built  in  "  Spain." 
One  clear  winter's  day,  when  looking  out  westwards 
from  this  lofty  tower,  he  saw  the  coast  of  Ireland  in 
the  distance,  and  resolved  to  sail  to  the  unknown  land. 
130 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  MILESIANS 

He  embarked  with  ninety  warriors,  and  took  land  at 
Corcadyna,  in  the  south-west.  In  connexion  with  this 
episode  I  may  quote  a  passage  of  great  beauty  and 
interest  from  de  Jubainville's  "  Irish  Mythological 
Cycle  "  : x 

"  According  to  an  unknown  writer  cited  by  Plutarch, 
who  died  about  the  year  120  of  the  present  era,  and 
also  by  Procopius,  who  wrote  in  the  sixth  century  a.d., 
*  the  Land  of  the  Dead '  is  the  western  extremity  of 
Great  Britain,  separated  from  the  eastern  by  an  im- 
passable wall.  On  the  northern  coast  of  Gaul,  says  the 
legend,  is  a  populace  of  mariners  whose  business  is  to 
carry  the  dead  across  from  the  continent  to  their  last 
abode  in  the  island  of  Britain.  The  mariners,  awakened 
in  the  night  by  the  whisperings  of  some  mysterious 
voice,  arise  and  go  down  to  the  shore,  where  they  find 
ships  awaiting  them  which  are  not  their  own,2  and,  in 
these,  invisible  beings,  under  whose  weight  the  vessels 
sink  almost  to  the  gunwales.  They  go  on  board,  and 
with  a  single  stroke  of  the  oar,  says  one  text,  in  one 
hour,  says  another,  they  arrive  at  their  destination, 
though  with  their  own  vessels,  aided  by  sails,  it  would 
have  taken  them  at  least  a  day  and  a  night  to  reach  the 
coast  of  Britain.  When  they  come  to  the  other  shore 
the  invisible  passengers  land,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
unloaded  ships  are  seen  to  rise  above  the  waves,  and  a 
voice  is  heard  announcing  the  names  of  the  new  arrivals, 
who  have  just  been  added  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Land  of  the  Dead. 

"  One  stroke  of  the  oar,  one  hour's  voyage  at  most, 
suffices  for  the  midnight  journey  which  transfers  the 

1  Translation  by  R.  I.  Best. 

2  The  solar  vessels  found  in  dolmen  carvings.  See  Chap.  II. 
p.  71  sqq.  Note  that  the  Celtic  spirits,  though  invisible,  are  material 
and  have  weight  ;  not  so  those  in  Vergil  and  Dante. 

131 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Dead  from  the  Gaulish  continent  to  their  final  abode. 
Some  mysterious  law,  indeed,  brings  together  in  the 
night  the  great  spaces  which  divide  the  domain  of  the 
living  from  that  of  the  dead  in  daytime.  It  was  the 
same  law  which  enabled  Ith  one  fine  winter  evening  to 
perceive  from  the  Tower  of  Bregon,  in  the  Land  of  the 
Dead,  the  shores  of  Ireland,  or  the  land  of  the  living. 
The  phenomenon  took  place  in  winter  ;  for  winter  is  a 
sort  of  night  ;  winter,  like  night,  lowers  the  barriers 
between  the  regions  of  Death  and  those  of  Life  ;  like 
night,  winter  gives  to  life  the  semblance  of  death,  and 
suppresses,  as  it  were,  the  dread  abyss  that  lies  between 
the  two." 

At  this  time,  it  is  said,  Ireland  was  ruled  by  three 
Danaan  kings,  grandsons  of  the  Dagda.  Their  names 
were  MacCuill,  MacCecht,  and  MacGrene,  and  their 
wives  were  named  respectively  Banba,  Fohla,  and  Eriu. 
The  Celtic  habit  of  conceiving  divine  persons  in  triads 
is  here  illustrated.  These  triads  represent  one  person 
each,  and  the  mythical  character  of  that  personage  is 
evident  from  the  name  of  one  of  them,  MacGrene,  Son 
of  the  Sun.  The  names  of  the  three  goddesses  have 
each  at  different  times  been  applied  to  Ireland,  but  that 
of  the  third,  Eriu,  has  alone  persisted,  and  in  the  dative 
form,  Erinn,  is  a  poetic  name  for  the  country  to  this 
day.  That  Eriu  is  the  wife  of  MacGrene  means,  as  de 
Jubainville  observes,  that  the  Sun-god,  the  god  of  Day, 
Life,  and  Science,  has  wedded  the  land  and  is  reigning 
over  it. 

Ith,  on  landing,  finds  that  the  Danaan  king,  Neit, 
has  just  been  slain  in  a  battle  with  the  Fomorians,  and 
the  three  sons,  MacCuill  and  the  others,  are  at  the 
fortress  of  Aileach,  in  Co.  Donegal,  arranging  for  a 
division  of  the  land  among  themselves.  At  first  they 
132 


The   Coming  of  the  Sons  of  Miled 


132 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  MILESIANS 

welcome  Ith,  and  ask  him  to  settle  their  inheritance. 
Ith  gives  his  judgment,  but,  in  concluding,  his  admira- 
tion for  the  newly  discovered  country  breaks  out  : 
"Act,"  he  says,  "according  to  the  laws  of  justice,  for 
the  country  you  dwell  in  is  a  good  one,  it  is  rich  in 
fruit  and  honey,  in  wheat  and  in  fish  ;  and  in  heat  and 
cold  it  is  temperate."  From  this  panegyric  the  Danaans 
conclude  that  1th  has  designs  upon  their  land,  and  they 
seize  him  and  put  him  to  death.  His  companions, 
however,  recover  his  body  and  bear  it  back  with  them 
in  their  ships  to  "  Spain  "  ;  when  the  children  of  Miled 
resolve  to  take  vengeance  for  the  outrage  and  prepare 
to  invade  Ireland. 

They  were  commanded  by  thirty-six  chiefs,  each 
having  his  own  ship  with  his  family  and  his  followers. 
Two  of  the  company  are  said  to  have  perished  on  the 
way.  One  of  the  sons  of  Miled,  having  climbed  to  the 
masthead  of  his  vessel  to  look  out  for  the  coast  of 
Ireland,  fell  into  the  sea  and  was  drowned.  The  other 
was  Skena,  wife  of  the  poet  Amergin,  son  of  Miled, 
who  died  on  the  way.  The  Milesians  buried  her  when 
they  landed,  and  called  the  place  "  Inverskena  "  after 
her  ;  this  was  the  ancient  name  of  the  Kenmare  River 
in  Co.  Kerry. 

"It  was  on  a  Thursday,  the  first  ot  May,  and  the 
seventeenth  day  of  the  moon,  that  the  sons  of  Miled 
arrived  in  Ireland.  Partholan  also  landed  in  Ireland 
on  the  first  of  May,  but  on  a  different  day  of  the  week 
and  of  the  moon  ;  and  it  was  on  the  first  day  of  May, 
too,  that  the  pestilence  came  which  in  the  space  of  one 
week  destroyed  utterly  his  race.  The  first  of  May  was 
sacred  to  Beltene,  one  of  the  names  of  the  god  of 
Death,  the  god  who  gives  life  to  men  and  takes  it 
away  from  them  again.     Thus  it  was  on  the  feast  day 

133 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

of  this  god  that  the  sons  of  Miled  began  their  conquest 
of  Ireland."1 

The  Poet  Amergin 

When  the  poet  Amergin  set  foot  upon  the  soil  of 
Ireland  it  is  said  that  he  chanted  a  strange  and  mystical 
lay  : 

"  I  am  the  Wind  that  blows  over  the  sea, 
I  am  the  Wave  of  the  Ocean  ; 
I  am  the  Murmur  of  the  billows; 
I  am  the  Ox  of  the  Seven  Combats ; 
I  am  the  Vulture  upon  the  rock ; 
I  am  a  Ray  of  the  Sun ; 
I  am  the  fairest  of  Plants ; 
I  am  a  Wild  Boar  in  valour; 
I  am  a  Salmon  in  the  Water; 
I  am  a  Lake  in  the  plain  ; 
I  am  the  Craft  of  the  artificer ; 
I  am  a  Word  of  Science ; 
I  am  the  Spear-point  that  gives  battle; 

I  am  the  god  that  creates  in  the  head  of  man  the  fire  of  thought. 
Who  is  it  that  enlightens  the  assembly  upon  the  mountain,  if  not  I  ? 
Who  telleth  the  ages  of  the  moon,  if  not  I? 
Who  showeth  the  place  where  the  sun  goes  to  rest,  if  not  I?" 

De  Jubainville,  whose  translation  I  have  in  the  main 
followed,  observes  upon  this  strange  utterance  : 

"There  is  a  lack  of  order  in  this  composition,  the 
ideas,  fundamental  and  subordinate,  are  jumbled  together 
without  method  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  mean- 
ing :  the  file  [poet]  is  the  Word  of  Science,  he  is  the 
god  who  gives  to  man  the  fire  of  thought  ;  and  as 
science  is  not  distinct  from  its  object,  as  God  and  Nature 
are  but  one,  the  being  of  the  file  is  mingled  with  the 

1  De  Jubainville,  "Irish  Mythological  Cycle,"  p.  136.  Belten£  is 
the  modern  Irish  name  for  the  month  of  May,  and  is  derived  from  an 
ancient  root  preserved  in  the  Old  Irish  compound  epelta,  "  dead." 

*34 


THE  JUDGMENT  OF  AMERGIN 

winds  and  the  waves,  with  the  wild  animals   and  the 
warrior's  arms."1 

Two  other  poems  are  attributed  to  Amergin,  in  which 
he  invokes  the  land  and  physical  features  of  Ireland  to 
aid  him  : 

"I  invoke  the  land  of  Ireland, 
Shining,  shining  sea ; 
Fertile,  fertile  Mountain  ; 
Gladed,  gladed  wood  ! 
Abundant  river,  abundant  in  water  ! 
Fish-abounding  lake  !  "  2 

The  Judgment  of  Amergin 

The  Milesian  host,  after  landing,  advance  to  Tara, 
where  they  find  the  three  kings  of  the  Danaans 
awaiting  them,  and  summon  them  to  deliver  up  the 
island.  The  Danaans  ask  for  three  days'  time  to  con- 
sider whether  they  shall  quit  Ireland,  or  submit,  or  give 
battle  ;  and  they  propose  to  leave  the  decision,  upon 
their  request,  to  Amergin.  Amergin  pronounces  judg- 
ment— "the  first  judgment  which  was  delivered  in 
Ireland."  He  agrees  that  the  Milesians  must  not  take 
their  foes  by  surprise — they  are  to  withdraw  the  length 
of  nine  waves  from  the  shore,  and  then  return  ;  if 
they  then  conquer  the  Danaans  the  land  is  to  be  fairly 
theirs  by  right  of  battle. 

The  Milesians  submit  to  this  decision  and  embark 
on  their  ships.  But  no  sooner  have  they  drawn  off"  for 
this  mystical  distance  of  the  nine  waves  than  a  mist  and 
storm  are  raised  by  the  sorceries  of  the  Danaans — the 
coast  of  Ireland  is  hidden  from  their  sight,  and  they 
wander  dispersed  upon  the  ocean.     To  ascertain  if  it  is 

1  "Irish  Mythological  Cycle,"  p.  138. 

2  I  follow  again  de  Jubainville's  translation  ;  but  in  connexion 
with  this  and  the  previous  poems  see  also  Ossianic  Society's  "  Trans- 
actions," vol.  v. 

l3S 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

a  natural  or  a  Druidic  tempest  which  afflicts  them,  a  man 
named  Aranan  is  sent  up  to  the  masthead  to  see  if  the 
wind  is  blowing  there  also  or  not.  He  is  flung  from 
the  swaying  mast,  but  as  he  falls  to  his  death  he  cries 
his  message  to  his  shipmates  :  "  There  is  no  storm 
aloft."  Amergin,who  as  poet — that  is  to  say,  Druid — 
takes  the  lead  in  all  critical  situations,  thereupon  chants 
his  incantation  to  the  land  of  Erin.  The  wind  falls, 
and  they  turn  their  prows,  rejoicing,  towards  the  shore. 
But  one  of  the  Milesian  lords,  Eber  Donn,  exults  in 
brutal  rage  at  the  prospect  of  putting  all  the  dwellers  in 
Ireland  to  the  sword  ;  the  tempest  immediately  springs 
up  again,  and  many  of  the  Milesian  ships  founder, 
Eber  Donn's  being  among  them.  At  last  a  remnant  of 
the  Milesians  find  their  way  to  shore,  and  land  in  the 
estuary  of  the  Boyne. 

The  Defeat  of  the  Danaans 

A  great  battle  with  the  Danaans  at  Teltown x  then 
follows.  The  three  kings  and  three  queens  of  the 
Danaans,  with  many  of  their  people,  are  slain,  and  the 
children  of  Miled — the  last  of  the  mythical  invaders  of 
Ireland — enter  upon  the  sovranty  of  Ireland.  But  the 
People  of  Dana  do  not  withdraw.  By  their  magic  art 
they  cast  over  themselves  a  veil  of  invisibility,  which 
they  can  put  on  or  off  as  they  choose.  There  are  two 
Irelands  henceforward,  the  spiritual  and  the  earthly. 
The  Danaans  dwell  in  the  spiritual  Ireland,  which  is 
portioned  out  among  them  by  their  great  overlord,  the 
Dagda.  Where  the  human  eye  can  see  but  green 
mounds  and  ramparts,  the  relics  of  ruined  fortresses  or 
sepulchres,  there  rise  the  fairy  palaces  of  the  defeated 
divinities  ;  there  they  hold  their  revels  in  eternal  sun- 
shine, nourished  by  the  magic  meat  and  ale  that  give 

1  Teltin  ;  so  named  after  the  goddess  Telta.     See  p.  103. 
136 


THE  MEANING  OF  THE  DANAAN  MYTH 

them  undying  youth  and  beauty  ;  and  thence  they 
come  forth  at  times  to  mingle  with  mortal  men  in  love 
or  in  war.  The  ancient  mythical  literature  conceives 
them  as  heroic  and  splendid  in  strength  and  beauty.  In 
later  times,  and  as  Christian  influences  grew  stronger, 
they  dwindle  into  fairies,  the  People  of  the  Sidhe  j1 
but  they  have  never  wholly  perished  ;  to  this  day  the 
Land  of  Youth  and  its  inhabitants  live  in  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  Irish  peasant. 

The  Meaning  of  the  Danaan  Myth 

All  myths  constructed  by  a  primitive  people  are 
symbols,  and  if  we  can  discover  what  it  is  that  they 
symbolise  we  have  a  valuable  clue  to  the  spiritual 
character,  and  sometimes  even  to  the  history,  of  the 
people  from  whom  they  sprang.  Now  the  meaning  of 
the  Danaan  myth  as  it  appears  in  the  bardic  literature, 
though  it  has  undergone  much  distortion  before  it 
reached  us,  is  perfectly  clear.  The  Danaans  represent 
the  Celtic  reverence  for  science,  poetry,  and  artistic  skill, 
blended,  of  course,  with  the  earlier  conception  of  the 
divinity  of  the  powers  of  Light.  In  their  combat  with 
the  Firbolgs  the  victory  of  the  intellect  over  dulness 
and  ignorance  is  plainly  portrayed — the  comparison  of 
the  heavy,  blunt  weapon  of  the  Firbolgs  with  the  light 
and  penetrating  spears  of  the  People  of  Dana  is  an 
indication  which  it  is  impossible  to  mistake.  Again,  in 
their  struggle  with  a  far  more  powerful  and  dangerous 
enemy,  the  Fomorians,  we  are  evidently  to  see  the 
combat  of  the  powers  of  Light  with  evil  of  a  more 
positive  kind  than  that  represented  by  the  Firbolgs. 
The     Fomorians    stand    not    for    mere    dulness    or 

1  Pronounced    "  Shee."     It    means    literally    the    People    of  the 
[Fairy]  Mounds. 

137 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

stupidity,  but   for  the  forces  of  tyranny,  cruelty,  and 
greed — for  moral  rather  than  for  intellectual  darkness. 

The  Meaning  of  the  Milesian  Myth 

But  the  myth  of  the  struggle  of  the  Danaans  with 
the  sons  of  Miled  is  more  difficult  to  interpret.  How 
does  it  come  that  the  lords  of  light  and  beauty,  wielding 
all  the  powers  of  thought  (represented  by  magic  and 
sorcery),  succumbed  to  a  human  race,  and  were  dis- 
possessed by  them  of  their  hard-won  inheritance  ? 
What  is  the  meaning  of  this  shrinking  of  their  powers 
which  at  once  took  place  when  the  Milesians  came  on 
the  scene  ?  The  Milesians  were  not  on  the  side  of  the 
powers  of  darkness.  They  were  guided  by  Amergin, 
a  clear  embodiment  of  the  idea  of  poetry  and  thought. 
They  were  regarded  with  the  utmost  veneration,  and 
the  dominant  families  of  Ireland  all  traced  their  descent 
to  them.  Was  the  Kingdom  of  Light,  then,  divided 
against  itself?  Or,  if  not,  to  what  conception  in  the 
Irish  mind  are  we  to  trace  the  myth  of  the  Milesian 
invasion  and  victory  ? 

The  only  answer  I  can  see  to  this  puzzling  question 
is  to  suppose  that  the  Milesian  myth  originated  at  a 
much  later  time  than  the  others,  and  was,  in  its  main 
features,  the  product  of  Christian  influences.  The 
People  of  Dana  were  in  possession  of  the  country,  but 
they  were  pagan  divinities — they  could  not  stand  for 
the  progenitors  of  a  Christian  Ireland.  They  had 
somehow  or  other  to  be  got  rid  of,  and  a  race  of  less 
embarrassing  antecedents  substituted  for  them.  So  the 
Milesians  were  fetched  from  "  Spain "  and  endowed 
with  the  main  characteristics,  only  more  humanised,  of 
the  People  of  Dana.  But  the  latter,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  usual  attitude  of  early  Christianity,  are 
treated  very  tenderly  in  the  story  of  their  overthrow. 
138 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  LIR 

One  of  them  has  the  honour  of  giving  her  name  to  the 
island,  the  brutality  of  one  of  the  conquerors  towards 
them  is  punished  with  death,  and  while  dispossessed 
of  the  lordship  of  the  soil  they  still  enjoy  life  in  the 
fair  world  which  by  their  magic  art  they  have  made 
invisible  to  mortals.  They  are  no  longer  gods,  but 
they  are  more  than  human,  and  frequent  instances 
occur  in  which  they  are  shown  as  coming  forth  from 
their  fairy  world,  being  embraced  in  the  Christian  fold, 
and  entering  into  heavenly  bliss.  With  two  cases  ot 
this  redemption  of  the  Danaans  we  shall  close  this 
chapter  on  the  Invasion  Myths  of  Ireland. 

The  first  is  the  strange  and  beautiful  tale  of  the 
Transformation  of  the  Children  of  Lir. 

The  Children  of  Lir 

Lir  was  a  Danaan  divinity,  the  father  of  the  sea-god 
Mananan  who  continually  occurs  in  magical  tales  of 
the  Milesian  cycle.  He  had  married  in  succession  two 
sisters,  the  second  of  whom  was  named  Aoife.1  She 
was  childless,  but  the  former  wife  of  Lir  had  left  him 
four  children,  a  girl  named  Fionuala2  and  three  boys. 
The  intense  love  of  Lir  for  the  children  made  the  step- 
mother jealous,  and  she  ultimately  resolved  on  their 
destruction.  It  will  be  observed,  by  the  way,  that  the 
People  of  Dana,  though  conceived  as  unaffected  by 
time,  and  naturally  immortal,  are  nevertheless  subject 
to  violent  death  either  at  the  hands  of  each  other  or 
even  of  mortals. 

With  her  guilty  object  in  view,  Aoife  goes  on  a 
journey  to  a  neighbouring  Danaan  king,  Bov  the  Red, 
taking  the  four  children  with  her.  Arriving  at  a 
lonely  place  by  Lake  Derryvaragh,  in  Westmeath,  she 

1  Pronounced  "  Eefa." 

2  This  name  means  "The  Maid  of  the  Fair  Shoulder." 

139 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

orders  her  attendants  to  slay  the  children.  They 
refuse,  and  rebuke  her.  Then  she  resolves  to  do  it 
herself;  but,  says  the  legend,  "her  womanhood  over- 
came her,"  and  instead  of  killing  the  children  she 
transforms  them  by  spells  of  sorcery  into  four  white 
swans,  and  lays  on  them  the  following  doom  :  three 
hundred  years  they  are  to  spend  on  the  waters  of  Lake 
Derryvaragh,  three  hundred  on  the  Straits  of  Moyle 
(between  Ireland  and  Scotland),  and  three  hundred  on 
the  Atlantic  by  Erris  and  Inishglory.  After  that,  "  when 
the  woman  of  the  South  is  mated  with  the  man  of 
the  North,"  the  enchantment  is  to  have  an  end. 

When  the  children  fail  to  arrive  with  Aoife  at  the 
palace  of  Bov  her  guilt  is  discovered,  and  Bov  changes 
her  into  "a  demon  of  the  air."  She  flies  forth  shriek- 
ing, and  is  heard  of  no  more  in  the  tale.  But  Lir  and 
Bov  seek  out  the  swan-children,  and  find  that  they  have 
not  only  human  speech,  but  have  preserved  the  charac- 
teristic Danaan  gift  of  making  wonderful  music.  From 
all  parts  of  the  island  companies  of  the  Danaan  folk 
resort  to  Lake  Derryvaragh  to  hear  this  wondrous 
music  and  to  converse  with  the  swans,  and  during  that 
time  a  great  peace  and  gentleness  seemed  to  pervade 
the  land. 

But  at  last  the  day  came  for  them  to  leave  the 
fellowship  of  their  kind  and  take  up  their  life  by  the 
wild  cliffs  and  ever  angry  sea  of  the  northern  coast. 
Here  they  knew  the  worst  of  loneliness,  cold,  and 
storm.  Forbidden  to  land,  their  feathers  froze  to  the 
rocks  in  the  winter  nights,  and  they  were  often  buffeted 
and  driven  apart  by  storms.     As  Fionuala  sings  : 

"  Cruel  to  us  was  Aoife 
Who  played  her  magic  upon  us, 
And  drove  us  out  on  the  water — 
Four  wonderful  snow-white  swans. 
140 


The   Danaan  Folk  listen  to  the   Music  of  the   Swans  i 


40 


THE  CHILDREN  OF  LIR 

"  Our  bath  is  the  frothing  brine, 
In  bays  by  red  rocks  guarded ; 
For  mead  at  our  father's  table 
We  drink  of  the  salt,  blue  sea. 

"  Three  sons  and  a  single  daughter, 
In  clefts  of  the  cold  rocks  dwelling, 
The  hard  rocks,  cruel  to  mortals — 
We  are  full  of  keening  to-night." 

Fionuala,  the  eldest  of  the  four,  takes  the  lead  in  all 
their  doings,  and  mothers  the  younger  children  most 
tenderly,  wrapping  her  plumage  round  them  on  nights 
of  frost.  At  last  the  time  comes  to  enter  on  the  third 
and  last  period  of  their  doom,  and  they  take  flight  for 
the  western  shores  of  Mayo.  Here  too  they  suffer 
much  hardship  ;  but  the  Milesians  have  now  come  into 
the  land,  and  a  young  farmer  named  Evric,  dwelling  on 
the  shores  of  Erris  Bay,  finds  out  who  and  what  the 
swans  are,  and  befriends  them.  To  him  they  tell  their 
story,  and  through  him  it  is  supposed  to  have  been 
preserved  and  handed  down.  When  the  final  period 
of  their  suffering  is  close  at  hand  they  resolve  to  fly 
towards  the  palace  of  their  father  Lir,  who  dwells,  we 
are  told,  at  the  Hill  of  the  White  Field,  in  Armagh,  to 
see  how  things  have  fared  with  him.  They  do  so  ; 
but  not  knowing  what  has  happened  on  the  coming  of 
the  Milesians,  they  are  shocked  and  bewildered  to  find 
nothing  but  green  mounds  and  whin-bushes  and  nettles 
where  once  stood — and  still  stands,  only  that  they  cannot 
see  it — the  palace  of  their  father.  Their  eyes  are  holden, 
we  are  to  understand,  because  a  higher  destiny  was  in 
store  for  them  than  to  return  to  the  Land  of  Youth. 

On  Erris  Bay  they  hear  for  the  first  time  the  sound 
of  a  Christian  bell.  It  comes  from  the  chapel  of  a 
hermit  who  has  established  himself  there.  The  swans 
are  at  first  startled  and  terrified  by  the  "  thin,  dreadful 

141 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

sound,"  but  afterwards  approach  and  make  themselves 
known  to  the  hermit,  who  instructs  them  in  the  faith, 
and  they  join  him  in  singing  the  offices  of  the  Church. 

Now  it  happens  that  a  princess  of  Munster,  Deoca, 
(the  "woman  of  the  South")  became  betrothed  to  a 
Connacht  chief  named  Lairgnen,  and  begged  him  as  a 
wedding  gift  to  procure  for  her  the  four  wonderful 
singing  swans  whose  fame  had  come  to  her.  He  asks 
them  of  the  hermit,  who  refuses  to  give  them  up,  where- 
upon the  "  man  of  the  North  "  seizes  them  violently  by 
the  silver  chains  with  which  the  hermit  had  coupled  them, 
and  drags  them  off  to  Deoca.  This  is  their  last  trial. 
Arrived  in  her  presence,  an  awful  transformation  befalls 
them.  The  swan  plumage  falls  off,  and  reveals,  not, 
indeed,  the  radiant  forms  of  the  Danaan  divinities, 
but  four  withered,  snowy-haired,  and  miserable  human 
beings,  shrunken  in  the  decrepitude  of  their  vast  old 
age.  Lairgnen  flies  from  the  place  in  horror,  but  the 
hermit  prepares  to  administer  baptism  at  once,  as  death 
is  rapidly  approaching  them.  "Lay  us  in  one  grave," 
says  Fionuala,  "and  place  Conn  at  my  right  hand  and 
Fiachra  at  my  left,  and  Hugh  before  my  face,  for  there 
they  were  wont  to  be  when  I  sheltered  them  many 
a  winter  night  upon  the  seas  of  Moyle."  And  so  it 
was  done,  and  they  went  to  heaven  ;  but  the  hermit,  it 
is  said,  sorrowed  for  them  to  the  end  of  his  earthly 
days.1 

In  all  Celtic  legend  there  is  no  more  tender  and 
beautiful  tale  than  this  of  the  Children  of  Lir. 

The  Tale  of  Ethne 

But  the  imagination  of  the  Celtic  bard  always  played 
with  delight  on  the  subjects  of  these  transition  tales, 

1  The    story   here    summarised   is  given    in  full    in    the    writer's 
"High  Deeds  of  Finn"  (Harrap  and  Co.). 
142 


THE  TALE  OF  ETHNE 

where  the  reconciling  of  the  pagan  order  with  the 
Christian  was  the  theme.  The  same  conception  is 
embodied  in  the  tale  of  Ethne,  which  we  have  now  to 
tell. 

It  is  said  that  Mananan  mac  Lir  had  a  daughter  who 
was  given  in  fosterage  to  the  Danaan  prince  Angus, 
whose  fairy  palace  was  at  Brugh  na  Boyna.  This  is  the 
great  sepulchral  tumulus  now  called  New  Grange,  on  the 
Boyne.  At  the  same  time  the  steward  of  Angus  had 
a  daughter  born  to  him  whose  name  was  Ethne,  and 
who  was  allotted  to  the  young  princess  as  her  hand- 
maiden. 

Ethne  grew  up  into  a  lovely  and  gentle  maiden,  but 
it  was  discovered  one  day  that  she  took  no  nourishment 
of  any  kind,  although  the  rest  of  the  household  fed  as 
usual  on  the  magic  swine  of  Mananan,  which  might  be 
eaten  to-day  and  were  alive  again  for  the  feast  to- 
morrow. Mananan  was  called  in  to  penetrate  the 
mystery,  and  the  following  curious  story  came  to  light. 
One  of  the  chieftains  of  the  Danaans  who  had  been  on 
a  visit  with  Angus,  smitten  by  the  girl's  beauty,  had 
endeavoured  to  possess  her  by  force.  This  woke  in 
Ethne's  pure  spirit  the  moral  nature  which  is  proper  to 
man,  and  which  the  Danaan  divinities  know  not.  As 
the  tale  says,  her  "guardian  demon"  left  her,  and  an 
angel  of  the  true  God  took  its  place.  After  that  event 
she  abstained  altogether  from  the  food  of  Faery,  and 
was  miraculously  nourished  by  the  will  of  God.  After 
a  time,  however,  Mananan  and  Angus,  who  had  been  on 
a  voyage  to  the  East,  brought  back  thence  two  cows 
whose  milk  never  ran  dry,  and  as  they  were  supposed 
to  have  come  from  a  sacred  land  Ethne  lived  on  their 
milk  thenceforward. 

All  this  is  supposed  to  have  happened  during  the 
reign  of  Eremon,  the  first  Milesian  king  of  all  Ireland, 

H3 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

who  was  contemporary  with  King  David.  At  the  time 
of  the  coming  of  St.  Patrick,  therefore,  Ethne  would 
have  been  about  fifteen  hundred  years  of  age.  The 
Danaan  folk  grow  up  from  childhood  to  maturity,  but 
then  they  abide  unaffected  by  the  lapse  of  time. 

Now  it  happened  one  summer  day  that  the  Danaan 
princess  whose  handmaid  Ethne  was  went  down  with 
all  her  maidens  to  bathe  in  the  river  Boyne.  When 
arraying  themselves  afterwards  Ethne  discovered,  to  her 
dismay — and  this  incident  was,  of  course,  an  instance 
of  divine  interest  in  her  destiny — that  she  had  lost  the 
Veil  of  Invisibility,  conceived  here  as  a  magic  charm 
worn  on  the  person,  which  gave  her  the  entrance  to  the 
Danaan  fairyland  and  hid  her  from  mortal  eyes.  She 
could  not  find  her  way  back  to  the  palace  of  Angus,  and 
wandered  up  and  down  the  banks  of  the  river  seeking 
in  vain  for  her  companions  and  her  home.  At  last 
she  came  to  a  walled  garden,  and,  looking  through  the 
gate,  saw  inside  a  stone  house  of  strange  appearance 
and  a  man  in  a  long  brown  robe.  The  man  was  a 
Christian  monk,  and  the  house  was  a  little  church  or 
oratory.  He  beckoned  her  in,  and  when  she  had  told 
her  story  to  him  he  brought  her  to  St.  Patrick,  who 
completed  her  adoption  into  the  human  family  by 
giving  her  the  rite  of  baptism. 

Now  comes  in  a  strangely  pathetic  episode  which 
reveals  the  tenderness,  almost  the  regret,  with  which 
early  Irish  Christianity  looked  back  on  the  lost  world 
of  paganism.  As  Ethne  was  one  day  praying  in  the 
little  church  by  the  Boyne  she  heard  suddenly  a 
rushing  sound  in  the  air,  and  innumerable  voices,  as 
it  seemed  from  a  great  distance,  lamenting  and  calling 
her  name.  It  was  her  Danaan  kindred,  who  were  still 
seeking  for  her  in  vain.  She  sprang  up  to  reply,  but 
was  so  overcome  with  emotion  that  she  fell  in  a  swoon 
144 


Ethne  hears  Voices 


144 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  PAGANISM  IN  IRELAND 

on  the  floor.  She  recovered  her  senses  after  a  while, 
but  from  that  day  she  was  struck  with  a  mortal  sickness, 
and  in  no  long  time  she  died,  with  her  head  upon  the 
breast  of  St.  Patrick,  who  administered  to  her  the  last 
rites,  and  ordained  that  the  church  should  be  named 
after  her,  Kill  Ethne — a  name  doubtless  borne,  at  the 
time  the  story  was  composed,  by  some  real  church  on 
the  banks  of  Boyne.1 

Christianity  and  Paganism  in  Ireland 

These,  taken  together  with  numerous  other  legendary 
incidents  which  might  be  quoted,  illustrate  well  the  atti- 
tude of  the  early  Celtic  Christians,  in  Ireland  at  least, 
towards  the  divinities  of  the  older  faith.  They  seem  to 
preclude  the  idea  that  at  the  time  of  the  conversion  of 
Ireland  the  pagan  religion  was  associated  with  cruel 
and  barbarous  practices,  on  which  the  national  memory 
would  look  back  with  horror  and  detestation. 

1  It  may  be  mentioned  that  the  syllable  "  Kill,"  which  enters  into 
so  many  Irish  place-names  (Kilkenny,  Killiney,  Kilcooley,  &c), 
usually  represents  the  Latin  cella,  a  monastic  cell,  shrine,  or  church. 
Stillorgan,  the  Tillage  near  Bray,  Co.  Dublin,  is  really  "  Kill  Lorchan," 
the  Church  of  Lorchan  (St.  Lawrence  O'Toole). 


HS 


CHAPTER  IV  :  THE  EARLY  MILESIAN 
KINGS 

The  Danaans  after  the  Milesian  Conquest 

THE  kings  and  heroes  of  the  Milesian  race  now 
fill  the  foreground  of  the  stage  in  Irish  legendary- 
history.  But,  as  we  have  indicated,  the  Danaan 
divinities  are  by  no  means  forgotten.  The  fairyland  in 
which  they  dwell  is  ordinarily  inaccessible  to  mortals, 
yet  it  is  ever  near  at  hand  ;  the  invisible  barriers  may 
be,  and  often  are,  crossed  by  mortal  men,  and  the  Danaans 
themselves  frequently  come  forth  from  them  ;  mortals 
may  win  brides  of  Faery  who  mysteriously  leave  them 
after  a  while,  and  women  bear  glorious  children  of 
supernatural  fatherhood.  Yet  whatever  the  Danaans 
may  have  been  in  the  original  pre-Christian  conceptions 
of  the  Celtic  Irish,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  they  figure  in  the  legends,  as  these  have  now  come 
down  to  us,  in  the  light  of  gods  as  we  understand  this 
term.  They  are  for  the  most  part  radiantly  beautiful, 
they  are  immortal  (with  limitations),  and  they  wield 
mysterious  powers  of  sorcery  and  enchantment.  But 
no  sort  of  moral  governance  of  the  world  is  ever  for 
a  moment  ascribed  to  them,  nor  (in  the  bardic  literature) 
is  any  act  of  worship  paid  to  them.  They  do  not  die 
naturally,  but  they  can  be  slain  both  by  each  other  and  by 
mortals,  and  on  the  whole  the  mortal  race  is  the  stronger. 
Their  strength  when  they  come  into  conflict  (as  fre- 
quently happens)  with  men  lies  in  stratagem  and  illusion  ; 
when  the  issue  can  be  fairly  knit  between  the  rival 
powers  it  is  the  human  that  conquers.  The  early 
kings  and  heroes  of  the  Milesian  race  are,  indeed,  often 
represented  as  so  mightily  endowed  with  supernatural 
power  that  it  is  impossible  to  draw  a  clear  distinction 
between  them  and  the  People  of  Dana  in  this  respect. 
146 


DANAANS  AFTER  THE  MILESIAN  CONQUEST 

The  Danaans  are  much  nobler  and  more  exalted  beings, 
as  they  figure  in  the  bardic  literature,  than  the  fairies 
into  which  they  ultimately  degenerated  in  the  popular 
imagination ;  they  may  be  said  to  hold  a  position 
intermediate  between  these  and  the  Greek  deities  as 
portrayed  in  Homer.  But  the  true  worship  of  the 
Celts,  in  Ireland  as  elsewhere,  seems  to  have  been  paid, 
not  to  these  poetical  personifications  of  their  ideals  of 
power  and  beauty,  but  rather  to  elemental  forces  repre- 
sented by  actual  natural  phenomena — rocks,  rivers,  the 
sun,  the  wind,  the  sea.  The  most  binding  of  oaths 
was  to  swear  by  the  Wind  and  Sun,  or  to  invoke  some 
other  power  of  nature  ;  no  name  of  any  Danaan  divinity 
occurs  in  an  Irish  oath  formula.  When,  however,  in 
the  later  stages  of  the  bardic  literature,  and  still  more 
in  the  popular  conceptions,  the  Danaan  deities  had 
begun  to  sink  into  fairies,  we  find  rising  into  prominence 
a  character  probably  older  than  that  ascribed  to  them 
in  the  literature,  and,  in  a  way,  more  august.  In  the 
literature  it  is  evident  that  they  were  originally  repre- 
sentatives of  science  and  poetry — the  intellectual  powers 
of  man.  But  in  the  popular  mind  they  represented, 
probably  at  all  times  and  certainly  in  later  Christian 
times,  not  intellectual  powers,  but  those  associated  with 
the  fecundity  of  earth.  They  were,  as  a  passage  in  the 
Book  of  Armagh  names  them,  dei  terreni,  earth-gods, 
and  were,  and  are  still,  invoked  by  the  peasantry  to 
yield  increase  and  fertility.  The  literary  conception  of 
them  is  plainly  Druidic  in  origin,  the  other  popular  ; 
and  the  popular  and  doubtless  older  conception  has 
proved  the  more  enduring. 

But  these  features  of  Irish  mythology  will  appear 
better  in  the  actual  tales  than  in  any  critical  discussion 
of  them  ;  and  to  the  tales  let  us  now  return. 

H7 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  Milesian  Settlement  of  Ireland 

The  Milesians  had  three  leaders  when  they  set  out 
for  the  conquest  of  Ireland — Eber  Donn  (Brown  Eber), 
Eber  Finn  (Fair  Eber),  and  Eremon.  Of  these  the 
first-named,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not  allowed  to  enter 
the  land — he  perished  as  a  punishment  for  his  brutality. 
When  the  victory  over  the  Danaans  was  secure  the 
two  remaining  brothers  turned  to  the  Druid  Amergin 
for  a  judgment  as  to  their  respective  titles  to  the 
sovranty.  Eremon  was  the  elder  of  the  two,  but  Eber 
refused  to  submit  to  him.  Thus  Irish  history  begins, 
alas  !  with  dissension  and  jealousy.  Amergin  decided 
that  the  land  should  belong  to  Eremon  for  his  life,  and 
pass  to  Eber  after  his  death.  But  Eber  refused  to 
submit  to  the  award,  and  demanded  an  immediate 
partition  of  the  new-won  territory.  This  was  agreed 
to,  and  Eber  took  the  southern  half  of  Ireland,  "  from 
the  Boyne  to  the  Wave  of  Cleena,"1  while  Eremon 
occupied  the  north.  But  even  so  the  brethren  could 
not  be  at  peace,  and  after  a  short  while  war  broke  out 
between  them.  Eber  was  slain,  and  Eremon  became 
sole  King  of  Ireland,  which  he  ruled  from  Tara,  the 
traditional  seat  of  that  central  authority  which  was 
always  a  dream  of  the  Irish  mind,  but  never  a  reality  of 
Irish  history. 

Tiernmas  and  Crcm  Cruach 

Of  the  kings  who  succeeded  Eremon,  and  the  battles 
they  fought  and  the  forests  they  cleared  away  and  the 
rivers  and  lakes  that  broke  out  in  their  reign,  there  is 
little  of  note  to  record  till  we  come  to  the  reign  of 
Tiernmas,  fifth  in  succession  from  Eremon.     He  is  said 

1  Cleena  {Cliodhna)  was  a  Danaan  princess  about  whom  a  legend 
is  told  connected   with  the  Bay  of  Glandore  in  Co.  Cork.     See 
p.  127. 
J48 


OLLAV  FOLA 

to  have  introduced  into  Ireland  the  worship  of  Crom 
Cruach,  on  Moyslaught  (The  Plain  of  Adoration *),  and 
to  have  perished  himself  with  three-fourths  of  his 
people  while  worshipping  this  idol  on  November  Eve, 
the  period  when  the  reign  of  winter  was  inaugurated. 
Crom  Cruach  was  no  doubt  a  solar  deity,  but  no  figure 
at  all  resembling  him  can  be  identified  among  the 
Danaan  divinities.  Tiernmas  also,  it  is  said,  found  the 
first  gold-mine  in  Ireland,  and  introduced  variegated 
colours  into  the  clothing  of  the  people.  A  slave  might 
wear  but  one  colour,  a  peasant  two,  a  soldier  three,  a 
wealthy  landowner  four,  a  provincial  chief  five,  and  an 
Ollav,  or  royal  person,  six.  Ollav  was  a  term  applied  to 
a  certain  Druidic  rank  ;  it  meant  much  the  same  as 
"  doctor,"  in  the  sense  of  a  learned  man — a  master  of 
science.  It  is  a  characteristic  trait  that  the  Ollav  is 
endowed  with  a  distinction  equal  to  that  of  a  king. 

Ollav  Fola 

The  most  distinguished  Ollav  of  Ireland  was  also  a 
king,  the  celebrated  Ollav  Fsla,  who  is  supposed  to 
have  been  eighteenth  from  Eremon  and  to  have  reigned 
about  iooo  b.c.  He  was  the  Lycurgus  or  Solon  of 
Ireland,  giving  to  the  country  a  code  of  legislature, 
and  also  subdividing  it,  under  the  High  King  at  Tara, 
among  the  provincial  chiefs,  to  each  of  whom  his  proper 
rights  and  obligations  were  allotted.  To  Ollav  Fola  is 
also  attributed  the  foundation  of  an  institution  which, 
whatever  its  origin,  became  of  great  importance  in 
Ireland — the  great  triennial  Fair  or  Festival  at  Tara, 
where  the  sub-kings  and  chiefs,  bards,  historians,  and 
musicians  from  all  parts  of  Ireland  assembled  to  make 
up  the  genealogical  records  of  the  clan  chieftainships,  to 
enact  laws,  hear  disputed  cases,  settle  succession,  and  so 
1  See  p.  85. 

149 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

forth  ;  all  these  political  and  legislative  labours  being 
lightened  by  song  and  feast.  It  was  a  stringent  law 
that  at  this  season  all  enmities  must  be  laid  aside  ;  no 
man  might  lift  his  hand  against  another,  or  even  in- 
stitute a  legal  process,  while  the  Assembly  at  Tara  was 
in  progress.  Of  all  political  and  national  institu- 
tions of  this  kind  Ollav  Fola  was  regarded  as  the 
traditional  founder,  just  as  Goban  the  Smith  was  the 
founder  of  artistry  and  handicraft,  and  Amergin  of 
poetry.  But  whether  the  Milesian  king  had  any  more 
objective  reality  than  the  other  more  obviously  mythical 
figures  it  is  hard  to  say.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
been  buried  in  the  great  tumulus  at  Loughcrew,  in 
Westmeath. 

Kimbay  and  the  Founding  of  Emain  Macha 

With  Kimbay  {Cimbaoth)y  about  300  B.C.,  we  come  to 
a  landmark  in  history.  "  All  the  historical  records  of 
the  Irish,  prior  to  Kimbay,  were  dubious  " — so,  with 
remarkable  critical  acumen  for  his  age,  wrote  the 
eleventh-century  historian  Tierna  of  Clonmacnois.1 
There  is  much  that  is  dubious  in  those  that  follow,  but 
we  are  certainly  on  firmer  historical  ground.  With 
the  reign  of  Kimbay  one  great  fact  emerges  into  light : 
we  have  the  foundation  of  the  kingdom  of  Ulster  at 
its  centre,  Emain  Macha,  a  name  redolent  to  the  Irish 
student  of  legendary  splendour  and  heroism.  Emain 
Macha  is  now  represented  by  the  grassy  ramparts  of 
a  great  hill-fortress  close  to  Ard  Macha  (Armagh). 
According  to  one  of  the  derivations  offered  in  Keating's 
"  History  of  Ireland,"  Emain  is  derived  from  eoy  a  bodkin, 
and  muifiy  the  neck,  the  word  being  thus  equivalent  to 

1  "  Omnia  monumenta  Scotorum  ante  Cimbaoth  incerta  erant." 
Tierna,  who  died  in  1088,  was  Abbot  of  Clonmacnois,  a  great  monastic 
and  educational  centre  in  mediaeval  Ireland. 
150 


Macha  marking  cut  the  Circuit  of  the  City 


150 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  EMAIN  MACHA 

"brooch,"  and  Emain  Macha  means  the  Brooch  of 
Macha.  An  Irish  brooch  was  a  large  circular  wheel  of 
gold  or  bronze,  crossed  by  a  long  pin,  and  the  great 
circular  rampart  surrounding  a  Celtic  fortress  might 
well  be  imaginatively  likened  to  the  brooch  of  a 
giantess  guarding  her  cloak,  or  territory.1  The  legend 
of  Macha  tells  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  Red  Hugh, 
an  Ulster  prince  who  had  two  brothers,  Dithorba  and 
Kimbay.  They  agreed  to  enjoy,  each  in  turn,  the 
sovranty  of  Ireland.  Red  Hugh  came  first,  but  on  his 
death  Macha  refused  to  give  up  the  realm  and  fought 
Dithorba  for  it,  whom  she  conquered  and  slew.  She 
then,  in  equally  masterful  manner,  compelled  Kimbay 
to  wed  her,  and  ruled  all  Ireland  as  queen.  I  give 
the  rest  of  the  tale  in  the  words  of  Standish  O'Grady  : 

"The  five  sons  of  Dithorba,  having  been  expelled 
out  of  Ulster,  fled  across  the  Shannon,  and  in  the  west 
of  the  kingdom  plotted  against  Macha.  Then  the 
Queen  went  down  alone  into  Connacht  and  found  the 
brothers  in  the  forest,  where,  wearied  with  the  chase, 
they  were  cooking  a  wild  boar  which  they  had  slain, 
and  were  carousing  before  a  fire  which  they  had  kindled. 
She  appeared  in  her  grimmest  aspect,  as  the  war- 
goddess,  red  all  over,  terrible  and  hideous  as  war  itself 
but  with  bright  and  flashing  eyes.  One  by  one  the 
brothers  were  inflamed  by  her  sinister  beauty,  and  one 
by  one  she  overpowered  and  bound  them.  Then  she 
lifted  her  burthen  of  champions  upon  her  back  and 
returned  with  them  into  the  north.  With  the  spear  of 
her  brooch  she  marked  out  on  the  plain  the  circuit  of 
the  city  of  Emain  Macha,  whose  ramparts  and  trenches 

1  Compare  the  fine  poem  of  a  modern  Celtic  writer  (Sir  Samuel 
Ferguson),  "The  Widow's  Cloak" — i.e.,  the  British  Empire  in  the 
days  of  Queen  Victoria. 

IS' 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

were  constructed  by  the  captive  princes,  labouring  like 
slaves  under  her  command/' 

"  The  underlying  idea  of  all  this  class  of  legend," 
remarks  Mr.  O'Grady,  "  is  that  if  men  cannot  master 
war,  war  will  master  them ;  and  that  those  who 
aspired  to  the  Ard-Rieship  [High-Kingship]  of  all 
Erin  must  have  the  war-gods  on  their  side." 1 

Macha  is  an  instance  of  the  intermingling  of  the 
attributes  of  the  Danaan  with  the  human  race  of  which 
I  have  already  spoken. 

Laery  and  Corac 

The  next  king  who  comes  into  legendary  prominence 
is  Ugainy  the  Great,  who  is  said  to  have  ruled  not  only 
all  Ireland,  but  a  great  part  of  Western  Europe,  and  to 
have  wedded  a  Gaulish  princess  named  Kesair.  He 
had  two  sons,  Laery  and  Covac.  The  former  inherited 
the  kingdom,  but  Covac,  consumed  and  sick  with  envy, 
sought  to  slay  him,  and  asked  the  advice  of  a  Druid 
as  to  how  this  could  be  managed,  since  Laery,  justly 
suspicious,  never  would  visit  him  without  an  armed 
escort.  The  Druid  bade  him  feign  death,  and  have 
word  sent  to  his  brother  that  he  was  on  his  bier  ready 
for  burial.  This  Covac  did,  and  when  Laery  arrived 
and  bent  over  the  supposed  corpse  Covac  stabbed  him 
to  the  heart,  and  slew  also  one  of  his  sons,  Ailill,2  who 
attended  him.  Then  Covac  ascended  the  throne,  and 
straightway  his  illness  left  him. 

Legends  of  Maon,  Son  of  Ailill 

He  did  a  brutal  deed,  however,  upon  a  son  of 
Ailill's  named  Maon,  about  whom  a  number  of  legends 

1  "  Critical  History  of  Ireland,"  p.  180. 

2  Pronounced  "  El'yill." 
152 


LEGENDS  OF  MAON,  SON  OF  AILILL 

cluster.  Maon,  as  a  child,  was  brought  into  Covac's 
presence,  and  was  there  compelled,  says  Keating,  to 
swallow  a  portion  of  his  father's  and  grandfather's 
hearts,  and  also  a  mouse  with  her  young.  From  the 
disgust  he  felt,  the  child  lost  his  speech,  and  seeing 
him  dumb,  and  therefore  innocuous,  Covac  let  him  go. 
The  boy  was  then  taken  into  Munster,  to  the  kingdom 
of  Feramorc,  of  which  Scoriath  was  king,  and  remained 
with  him  some  time,  but  afterwards  went  to  Gaul,  his 
great-grandmother  Kesair's  country,  where  his  guards 
told  the  king  that  he  was  heir  to  the  throne  of  Ireland, 
and  he  was  treated  with  great  honour  and  grew  up  into 
a  noble  youth.  But  he  left  behind  him  in  the  heart  of 
Moriath,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Feramorc,  a  passion 
that  could  not  be  stilled,  and  she  resolved  to  bring  him 
back  to  Ireland.  She  accordingly  equipped  her  father's 
harper,  Craftiny,  with  many  rich  gifts,  and  wrote  for 
him  a  love-lay,  in  which  her  passion  for  Maon  was  set 
forth,  and  to  which  Craftiny  composed  an  enchanting 
melody.  Arrived  in  France,  Craftiny  made  his  way  to 
the  king's  court,  and  found  occasion  to  pour  out  his  lay 
to  Maon.  So  deeply  stirred  was  he  by  the  beauty  and 
passion  of  the  song  that  his  speech  returned  to  him 
and  he  broke  out  into  praises  of  it,  and  was  thenceforth 
dumb  no  more.  The  King  of  Gaul  then  equipped  him 
with  an  armed  force  and  sent  him  to  Ireland  to  regain 
his  kingdom.  Learning  that  Covac  was  at  a  place  near 
at  hand  named  Dinrigh,  Maon  and  his  body  of  Gauls 
made  a  sudden  attack  upon  him  and  slew  him  there 
and  then,  with  all  his  nobles  and  guards.  After  the 
slaughter  a  Druid  of  Covac's  company  asked  one  of 
the  Gauls  who  their  leader  was.  "  The  Mariner " 
(Loingseach),  replied  the  Gaul,  meaning  the  captain  of 
the  fleet — i.e.y  Maon.  "  Can  he  speak  ?  "  inquired  the 
Druid,  who  had  begun  to  suspect  the   truth.     "He 

»S3 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

does  speak  "  {Labraidh)^  said  the  man  ;  and  henceforth 
the  name  "  Labra  the  Mariner  "  clung  to  Maon  son  of 
Ailill,  nor  was  he  known  by  any  other.  He  then 
sought  out  Moriath,  wedded  her,  and  reigned  over 
Ireland  ten  years. 

From  this  invasion  of  the  Gauls  the  name  of  the 
province  of  Leinster  is  traditionally  derived.  They  were 
armed  with  spears  having  broad  blue-green  iron  heads 
called  laighne  (pronounced  "lyna"),  and  as  they  were 
allotted  lands  in  Leinster  and  settled  there,  the  province 
was  called  in  Irish  Laighin  ("  Ly-in  ")  after  them — the 
Province  of  the  Spearmen.1 

Of  Labra  the  Mariner,  after  his  accession,  a  curious 
tale  is  told.  He  was  accustomed,  it  is  said,  to  have  his 
hair  cropped  but  once  a  year,  and  the  man  to  do  this 
was  chosen  by  lot,  and  was  immediately  afterwards  put 
to  death.  The  reason  of  this  was  that,  like  King  Midas 
in  the  similar  Greek  myth,  he  had  long  ears  like  those 
of  a  horse,  and  he  would  not  have  this  deformity  known. 
Once  it  fell,  however,  that  the  person  chosen  to  crop 
his  hair  was  the  only  son  of  a  poor  widow,  by  whose 
tears  and  entreaties  the  king  was  prevailed  upon  to  let 
him  live,  on  condition  that  he  swore  by  the  Wind  and 
Sun  to  tell  no  man  what  he  might  see.  The  oath  was 
taken,  and  the  young  man  returned  to  his  mother.  But 
by-and-by  the  secret  so  preyed  on  his  mind  that  he  fell 
into  a  sore  sickness,  and  was  near  to  death,  when  a  wise 
Druid  was  called  in  to  heal  him.     "  It  is  the  secret  that 

1  The  ending  ster  in  three  of  the  names  of  the  Irish  provinces  is 
of  Norse  origin,  and  is  a  relic  of  the  Viking  conquests  in  Ireland. 
Connacht,  where  the  Vikings  did  not  penetrate,  alone  preserves  its 
Irish  name  unmodified.  Ulster  (in  Irish  Ulaidh)  is  supposed  to 
derive  its  name  from  Ollav  Fola,  Munster  (Mumhan)  from  King 
Eocho  Mumho,  tenth  in  succession  from  Eremon,  and  Connacht 
was  "  the  land  of  the  children  of  Conn  " — he  who  was  called  Conn 
of  the  Hundred  Battles,  and  who  died  a.d.  157. 

154 


The  first  tree  was  a  willow 


154' 


LEGEND^CYCLE  OF  CONARY  MOR 

is  killing  him,"  said  the  Druid,  "  and  he  will  never  be 
well  till  he  reveals  it.  Let  him  therefore  go  along  the 
high-road  till  he  come  to  a  place  where  four  roads  meet. 
Let  him  there  turn  to  the  right,  and  the  first  tree  he 
shall  meet  on  the  road,  let  him  tell  his  secret  to  that, 
and  he  shall  be  rid  of  it,  and  recover."  So  the  youth 
did  ;  and  the  first  tree  was  a  willow.  He  laid  his  lips 
close  to  the  bark,  whispered  his  secret  to  it,  and  went 
home,  light-hearted  as  of  old.  But  it  chanced  that 
shortly  after  this  the  harper  Craftiny  broke  his  harp  and 
needed  a  new  one,  and  as  luck  would  have  it  the  first 
suitable  tree  he  came  to  was  the  willow  that  had  the 
king's  secret.  He  cut  it  down,  made  his  harp  from  it, 
and  performed  that  night  as  usual  in  the  king's  hall ; 
when,  to  the  amazement  of  all,  as  soon  as  the  harper 
touched  the  strings  the  assembled  guests  heard  them 
chime  the  words,  "Two  horse's  ears  hath  Labra  the 
Mariner."  The  king  then,  seeing  that  the  secret  was 
out,  plucked  off"  his  hood  and  showed  himself  plainly  ; 
nor  was  any  man  put  to  death  again  on  account  of  this 
mystery.  We  have  seen  that  the  compelling  power  of 
Craftiny's  music  had  formerly  cured  Labra's  dumbness. 
The  sense  of  something  magical  in  music,  as  though 
supernatural  powers  spoke  through  it,  is  of  constant 
recurrence  in  Irish  legend. 

Legend'Cycle  of  Conary  Mor 

We  now  come  to  a  cycle  of  legends  centering  on,  or 
rather  closing  with,  the  wonderful  figure  of  the  High 
King  Conary  Mor — a  cycle  so  charged  with  splendour, 
mystery,  and  romance  that  to  do  it  justice  would  require 
far  more  space  than  can  be  given  to  it  within  the  limits 
of  this  work.1 

1  The  reader  may,  however,  be  referred  to  the  tale  of  Etain  and 
Midir   as   given  in   full   by   A.    H.   Leahy  ("  Heroic   Romances  of 

'55 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Etain  in  Fairyland 

The  preliminary  events  of  the  cycle  are  transacted 
in  the  "  Land  of  Youth,"  the  mystic  country  of  the 
People  of  Dana  after  their  dispossession  by  the  Children 
of  Miled.  Midir  the  Proud  son  of  the  Dagda,  a  Danaan 
prince  dwelling  on  Slieve  Callary,  had  a  wife  named 
Fuamnach.  After  a  while  he  took  to  himself  another 
bride,  Etain,  whose  beauty  and  grace  were  beyond 
compare,  so  that "  as  fair  as  Etain  "  became  a  proverbial 
comparison  for  any  beauty  that  exceeded  all  other 
standards.  Fuamnach  therefore  became  jealous  of  her 
rival,  and  having  by  magic  art  changed  her  into  a 
butterfly,  she  raised  a  tempest  that  drove  her  forth  from 
the  palace,  and  kept  her  for  seven  years  buffeted  hither 
and  thither  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Erin. 
At  last,  however,  a  chance  gust  of  wind  blew  her  through 
a  window  of  the  fairy  palace  of  Angus  on  the  Boyne. 
The  immortals  cannot  be  hidden  from  each  other,  and 
Angus  knew  what  she  was.  Unable  to  release  her 
altogether  from  the  spell  of  Fuamnach,  he  made  a  sunny 
bower  for  her,  and  planted  round  it  all  manner  of 
choice  and  honey-laden  flowers,  on  which  she  lived  as 
long  as  she  was  with  him,  while  in  the  secrecy  of  the 
night  he  restored  her  to  her  own  form  and  enjoyed  her 
love.  In  time,  however,  her  refuge  was  discovered  by 
Fuamnach ;  again  the  magic  tempest  descended  upon 
her  and  drove  her  forth  ;  and  this  time  a  singular  fate 
was  hers.  Blown  into  the  palace  of  an  Ulster  chieftain 
named  Etar,  she  fell  into  the  drinking-cup  of  Etar's 
wife  just  as  the  latter  was  about  to  drink.  She  was 
swallowed  in  the  draught,  and  in   due  time,  having 

Ireland  "),  and  by  the  writer  in  his  "  High  Deeds  of  Finn,"  and  to 
the  tale  of  Conary  rendered  by  Sir  S.  Ferguson  ("  Poems,"  1886),  in 
what  Dr.  Whitley  Stokes  has  described  as  the  noblest  poem  ever 
written  by  an  Irishman. 
156 


EOCHY  AND  ETAIN 

passed  into  the  womb  of  Etar's  wife,  she  was  born  as 
an  apparently  mortal  child,  and  grew  up  to  maidenhood 
knowing  nothing  of  her  real  nature  and  ancestry. 

Eochy  and  Etain 

About  this  time  it  happened  that  the  High  King  of 
Ireland,  Eochy,1  being  wifeless  and  urged  by  the  nobles 
of  his  land  to  take  a  queen — "  for  without  thou  do 
so,"  they  said,  "  we  will  not  bring  our  wives  to  the 
Assembly  at  Tara  " — sent  forth  to  inquire  for  a  fair  and 
noble  maiden  to  share  his  throne.  The  messengers 
report  that  Etain,  daughter  of  Etar,  is  the  fairest  maiden 
in  Ireland,  and  the  king  journeys  forth  to  visit  her.  A 
piece  of  description  here  follows  which  is  one  of  the 
most  highly  wrought  and  splendid  in  Celtic  or  perhaps 
in  any  literature.  Eochy  finds  Etain  with  her  maidens 
by  a  spring  of  water,  whither  she  had  gone  forth  to 
wash  her  hair  : 

"  A  clear  comb  of  silver  was  held  in  her  hand,  the 
comb  was  adorned  with  gold  ;  and  near  her,  as  for 
washing,  was  a  bason  of  silver  whereon  four  birds  had 
been  chased,  and  there  were  little  bright  gems  of 
carbuncles  on  the  rims  of  the  bason.  A  bright  purple 
mantle  waved  round  her  ;  and  beneath  it  was  another 
mantle  ornamented  with  silver  fringes  :  the  outer 
mantle  was  clasped  over  her  bosom  with  a  golden 
brooch.  A  tunic  she  wore  with  a  long  hood  that 
might  cover  her  head  attached  to  it  ;  it  was  stiff  and 
glossy  with  green  silk  beneath  red  embroidery  of  gold, 
and  was  clasped  over  her  breasts  with  marvellously 
wrought  clasps  of  silver  and  gold  ;  so  that  men  saw 
the  bright  gold  and  the  green  silk  flashing  against  the 
sun.     On  her  head  were  two  tresses  of  golden   hair, 

1  Pronounced  "  Yeo'hy." 

*57 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

and  each  tress  had  been  plaited  into  four  strands  ;  at 
the  end  of  each  strand  was  a  little  ball  of  gold.  And 
there  was  that  maiden  undoing  her  hair  that  she  might 
wash  it,  her  two  arms  out  through  the  armholes  of  her 
smock.  Each  of  her  two  arms  was  as  white  as  the 
snow  of  a  single  night,  and  each  of  her  cheeks  was  as 
rosy  as  the  foxglove.  Even  and  small  were  the  teeth 
in  her  head,  and  they  shone  like  pearls.  Her  eyes 
were  as  blue  as  a  hyacinth,  her  lips  delicate  and 
crimson  ;  very  high,  soft  and  white  were  her  shoulders. 
Tender,  polished  and  white  were  her  wrists  ;  her 
fingers  long  and  of  great  whiteness  ;  her  nails  were 
beautiful  and  pink.  White  as  snow,  or  the  foam  of  a 
wave,  was  her  neck  ;  long  was  it,  slender,  and  as  soft  as 
silk.  Smooth  and  white  were  her  thighs  ;  her  knees 
were  round  and  firm  and  white  ;  her  ankles  were  as 
straight  as  the  rule  of  a  carpenter.  Her  feet  were  slim 
and  as  white  as  the  ocean's  foam  ;  evenly  set  were  her 
eyes  ;  her  eyebrows  were  of  a  bluish  black,  such  as  you 
see  upon  the  shell  of  a  beetle.  Never  a  maid  fairer 
than  she,  or  more  worthy  of  love,  was  till  then  seen  by 
the  eyes  of  men  ;  and  it  seemed  to  them  that  she  must 
be  one  of  those  that  have  come  from  the  fairy  mounds." * 

The  king  wooed  her  and  made  her  his  wife,  and 
brought  her  back  to  Tara. 

The  LovC'Story  of  Ailill 

It  happened  that  the  king  had  a  brother  named 
Ailill,  who,  on  seeing  Etain,  was  so  smitten  with  her 
beauty  that  he  fell  sick  of  the  intensity  of  his  pas- 
sion and  wasted  almost  to  death.  While  he  was  in 
this    condition    Eochy  had  to    make  a  royal  progress 

1  I  quote  Mr.  A.  H.  Leahy's  translation  from  a  fifteenth-century 
Egerton  manuscript  ("  Heroic  Romances  of  Ireland,"  vol.  i.  p.  12). 
The  story  is,  however,  found  in  much  more  ancient  authorities. 
158 


THE  LOVE-STORY  OF  AILILL 

through  Ireland.  He  left  his  brother — the  cause  of 
whose  malady  none  suspected — in  Etain's  care,  bidding 
her  do  what  she  could  for  him,  and,  if  he  died,  to  bury 
him  with  due  ceremonies  and  erect  an  Ogham  stone 
above  his  grave.1  Etain  goes  to  visit  the  brother  ;  she 
inquires  the  cause  of  his  illness  ;  he  speaks  to  her  in 
enigmas,  but  at  last,  moved  beyond  control  by  her 
tenderness,  he  breaks  out  in  an  avowal  of  his  passion. 
His  description  of  the  yearning  of  hopeless  love  is  a 
lyric  of  extraordinary  intensity.  "  It  is  closer  than  the 
skin,"  he  cries,  "it  is  like  a  battle  with  a  spectre,  it 
overwhelms  like  a  flood,  it  is  a  weapon  under  the  sea, 
it  is  a  passion  for  an  echo."  By  "a  weapon  under  the 
sea"  the  poet  means  that  love  is  like  one  of  the  secret 
treasures  of  the  fairy-folk  in  the  kingdom  of  Mananan 
— as  wonderful  and  as  unattainable. 

Etain  is  now  in  some  perplexity  ;  but  she  decides, 
with  a  kind  of  narve  good-nature,  that  although  she  is 
not  in  the  least  in  love  with  Ailill,  she  cannot  see  a 
man  die  of  longing  for  her,  and  she  promises  to  be 
his.  Possibly  we  are  to  understand  here  that  she  was 
prompted  by  the  fairy  nature,  ignorant  of  good  and 
evil,  and  alive  only  to  pleasure  and  to  suffering.  It 
must  be  said,  however,  that  in  the  Irish  myths  in 
general  this,  as  we  may  call  it,  "fairy"  view  of  morality 
is  the  one  generally  prevalent  both  among  Danaans  and 
mortals — both  alike  strike  one  as  morally  irresponsible. 

Etain  now  arranges  a  tryst  with  Ailill  in  a  house 
outside  of  Tara — for  she  will  not  do  what  she  calls  her 
"glorious  crime"  in  the  king's  palace.  But  Ailill  on 
the    eve   of  the    appointed  day  falls  into  a  profound 

1  Ogham's  letters,  which  were  composed  of  straight  lines  arranged 
in  a  certain  order  about  the  axis  formed  by  the  edge  of  a  squared 
pillar-stone,  were  used  for  sepulchral  inscription  and  writing 
generally  before  the  introduction  of  the  Roman  alphabet  in  Ireland. 

159 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

slumber  and  misses  his  appointment.  A  being  in  his 
shape  does,  however,  come  to  Etain,  but  merely  to 
speak  coldly  and  sorrowfully  of  his  malady,  and  departs 
again.  When  the  two  meet  once  more  the  situation 
is  altogether  changed.  In  Ailill's  enchanted  sleep  his 
unholy  passion  for  the  queen  has  passed  entirely  away. 
Etain,  on  the  other  hand,  becomes  aware  that  behind  the 
visible  events  there  are  mysteries  which  she  does  not 
understand. 

Midir  the  Proud 

The  explanation  soon  follows.  The  being  who  came 
to  her  in  the  shape  of  Ailill  was  her  Danaan  husband, 
Midir  the  Proud.  He  now  comes  to  woo  her  in  his  true 
shape,  beautiful  and  nobly  apparelled,  and  entreats  her 
to  fly  with  him  to  the  Land  of  Youth,  where  she  can 
be  safe  henceforward,  since  her  persecutor,  Fuamnach, 
is  dead.  He  it  was  who  shed  upon  Ailill's  eyes  the 
magic  slumber.  His  description  of  the  fairyland  to 
which  he  invites  her  is  given  in  verses  of  great 
beauty : 

The  Land  of  Youth 

"  O  fair-haired  woman,  will  you  come  with  me  to  the  mar- 
vellous land,  full  of  music,  where  the  hair  is  primrose- 
yellow  and  the  body  white  as  snow  I 

There  none  speaks  of  '  mine  '  or  '  thine ' — white  are  the 
teeth  and  black  the  brows ;  eyes  flash  with  many- 
coloured  lights,  and  the  hue  of  the  foxglove  is  on  every 
cheek. 

Pleasant  to  the  eye  are  the  plains  of  Erin,  but  they  are  a 
desert  to  the  Great  Plain. 

Heady  is  the  ale  of  Erin,  but  the  ale  of  the  Great  Plain  is 
headier. 

It  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  that  land  that  youth  does  not 
change  into  age. 

Smooth  and  sweet  are  the  streams  that  flow  through  it  ; 
mead  and  wine  abound  of  every  kind  ;  there  men  are 
1 60 


A  GAME  OF  CHESS 

all  fair,  without  blemish  ;  there  women  conceive  with- 
out sin. 

We  see  around  us  on  every  side,  yet  no  man  seeth  us  ;  the 
cloud  of  the  sin  of  Adam  hides  us  from  their  observation. 

O  lady,  if  thou  wilt  come  to  my  strong  people,  the  purest 
of  gold  shall  be  on  thy  head — thy  meat  shall  be  swine's 
flesh  unsalted,1  new  milk  and  mead  shalt  thou  drink 
with  me  there,  O  fair-haired  woman.' " 

I  have  given  this  remarkable  lyric  at  length  because, 
though  Christian  and  ascetic  ideas  are  obviously- 
discernible  in  it,  it  represents  on  the  whole  the  pagan 
and  mythical  conception  of  the  Land  of  Youth,  the 
country  of  the  Dead. 

Etain,  however,  is  by  no  means  ready  to  go  away 
with  a  stranger  and  to  desert  the  High  King  for  a  man 
"  without  name  or  lineage."  Midir  tells  her  who  he 
is,  and  all  her  own  history  of  which,  in  her  present 
incarnation,  she  knows  nothing  ;  and  he  adds  that  it 
was  one  thousand  and  twelve  years  from  Etain's  birth 
in  the  Land  of  Youth  till  she  was  born  a  mortal  child 
to  the  wife  of  Etar.  Ultimately  Etain  agrees  to  return 
with  Midir  to  her  ancient  home,  but  only  on  condition 
that  the  king  will  agree  to  their  severance,  and  with 
this  Midir  has  to  be  content  for  the  time. 

A  Game  of  Chess 

Shortly  afterwards  he  appears  to  King  Eochy,  as 
already  related,2  on  the  Hill  of  Tara.  He  tells  the 
king  that  he  has  come  to  play  a  game  of  chess  with 
him,  and  produces  a  chessboard  of  silver  with  pieces  of 
gold  studded  with  jewels.  To  be  a  skilful  chess-player 
was  a  necessary  accomplishment  of  kings  and  nobles  in 

1  The  reference  is  to  the  magic  swine  of  Mananan,  which  were 
killed  and  eaten  afresh  every  day,  and  whose  meat  preserved  the 
eternal  youth  of  the  People  of  Dana. 

2  Sec  p.  124. 

L  l6l 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Ireland,  and  Eochy  enters  into  the  game  with  zest. 
Midir  allows  him  to  win  game  after  game,  and  in  pay- 
ment for  his  losses  he  performs  by  magic  all  kinds  of 
tasks  for  Eochy,  reclaiming  land,  clearing  forests,  and 
building  causeways  across  bogs — here  we  have  a  touch 
of  the  popular  conception  of  the  Danaans  as  earth 
deities  associated  with  agriculture  and  fertility.  At 
last,  having  excited  Eochy's  cupidity  and  made  him 
believe  himself  the  better  player,  he  proposes  a  final 
game,  the  stakes  to  be  at  the  pleasure  of  the  victor 
after  the  game  is  over.     Eochy  is  now  defeated. 

"  My  stake  is  forfeit  to  thee,"  said  Eochy. 

"  Had  I  wished  it,  it  had  been  forfeit  long  ago," 
said  Midir. 

"  What  is  it  that  thou  desirest  me  to  grant  ? "  said 
Eochy. 

"  That  I  may  hold  Etain  in  my  arms  and  obtain  a 
kiss  from  her,"  said  Midir. 

The  king  was  silent  for  a  while  ;  then  he  said  :  "  One 
month  from  to-day  thou  shalt  come,  and  the  thing  thou 
desirest  shall  be  granted  thee." 

Midir  and  Etain 

Eochy's  mind  foreboded  evil,  and  when  the  appointed 
day  came  he  caused  the  palace  of  Tara  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  a  great  host  of  armed  men  to  keep  Midir 
out.  All  was  in  vain,  however  ;  as  the  king  sat  at  the 
feast,  while  Etain  handed  round  the  wine,  Midir,  more 
glorious  than  ever,  suddenly  stood  in  their  midst. 
Holding  his  spears  in  his  left  hand,  he  threw  his  right 
around  Etain,  and  the  couple  rose  lightly  in  the  air 
and  disappeared  through  a  roof-window  in  the  palace. 
Angry  and  bewildered,  the  king  and  his  warriors  rushed 
out  of  doors,  but  all  they  could  see  was  two  white 
swans  that  circled  in  the  air  above  the  palace,  and  then 
162 


Midir  and  Etain 


162 


WAR  WITH  FAIRYLAND 

departed  in  long,  steady  flight  towards  the  fairy  moun- 
tain of  Slievenamon.  And  thus  Queen  Etain  rejoined 
her  kindred. 

War  with  Fairyland 

Eochy,  however,  would  not  accept  defeat,  and  now 
ensues  what  I  think  is  the  earliest  recorded  war  with 
Fairyland  since  the  first  dispossession  of  the  Danaans. 
After  searching  Ireland  for  his  wife  in  vain,  he  sum- 
moned to  his  aid  the  Druid  Dalan.  Dalan  tried  for  a 
year  by  every  means  in  his  power  to  find  out  where  she 
was.  At  last  he  made  what  seems  to  have  been  an 
operation  of  wizardry  of  special  strength — "he  made 
three  wands  of  yew,  and  upon  the  wands  he  wrote  an 
ogham  ;  and  by  the  keys  of  wisdom  that  he  had,  and 
by  the  ogham,  it  was  revealed  to  him  that  Etain  was  in 
the  fairy  mound  of  Bri-Leith,  and  that  Midir  had  borne 
her  thither." 

Eochy  then  assembled  his  forces  to  storm  and 
destroy  the  fairy  mound  in  which  was  the  palace  ot 
Midir.  It  is  said  that  he  was  nine  years  digging  up 
one  mound  after  another,  while  Midir  and  his  folk 
repaired  the  devastation  as  fast  as  it  was  made.  At 
last  Midir,  driven  to  the  last  stronghold,  attempted  a 
stratagem — he  offered  to  give  up  Etain,  and  sent  her 
with  nfty  handmaids  to  the  king,  but  made  them  all  so 
much  alike  that  Eochy  could  not  distinguish  the  true 
Etain  from  her  images.  She  herself,  it  is  said,  gave 
him  a  sign  by  which  to  know  her.  The  motive  of  the 
tale,  including  the  choice  of  the  mortal  rather  than  the 
god,  reminds  one  of  the  beautiful  Hindu  legend  of 
Damayanti  and  Nala.  Eochy  regained  his  queen,  who 
lived  with  him  till  his  death,  ten  years  afterwards,  and 
bore  him  one  daughter,  who  was  named  Etain,  like 
herself. 

163 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  Tale  of  Conary  Mor 

From  this  Etain  ultimately  sprang  the  great  king 
Conary  Mor,  who  shines  in  Irish  legend  as  the  supreme 
type  of  royal  splendour,  power,  and  beneficence,  and 
whose  overthrow  and  death  were  compassed  by  the 
Danaans  in  vengeance  for  the  devastation  of  their  sacred 
dwellings  by  Eochy.  The  tale  in  which  the  death  of 
Conary  is  related  is  one  of  the  most  antique  and 
barbaric  in  conception  of  all  Irish  legends,  but  it  has 
a  magnificence  of  imagination  which  no  other  can  rival. 
To  this  great  story  the  tale  of  Etain  and  Midir  may  be 
regarded  as  what  the  Irish  called  a  priomscel,  "  intro- 
ductory tale,"  showing  the  more  remote  origin  of  the 
events  related.  The  genealogy  of  Conary  Mor  will 
help  the  reader  to  understand  the  connexion  of  events. 

Eochy=Etain. 

Cormac,  King=Etain  Oig  (Etain  the  younger), 
of  Ulster. 

Eterskel,  King=Messbuachalla  (the  cowherd's 
of  Erin.  fosterling). 

Conary  Mor. 

The  Law  of  the  Geis 

The  tale  of  Conary  introduces  us  for  the  first  time 
to  the  law  or  institution  of  the  gets,  which  plays  hence- 
forward a  very  important  part  in  Irish  legend,  the 
violation  or  observance  of  a  geis  being  frequently  the 
turning-point  in  a  tragic  narrative.  We  must  there- 
fore delay  a  moment  to  explain  to  the  reader  exactly 
what  this  peculiar  institution  was. 

Dineen's  "  Irish  Dictionary  "  explains  the  word  geis 
164 


THE  COWHERD'S  FOSTERLING 

(pronounced  "gaysh" — plural,  "gaysha")  as  meaning 
"a  bond,  a  spell,  a  prohibition,  a  taboo,  a  magical 
injunction,  the  violation  of  which  led  to  misfortune  and 
death." *  Every  Irish  chieftain  or  personage  of  note 
had  certain  geise  peculiar  to  himself  which  he  must  not 
transgress.  These  geise  had  sometimes  reference  to  a 
code  of  chivalry — thus  Dermot  of  the  Love-spot,  when 
appealed  to  by  Grania  to  take  her  away  from  Finn,  is 
under  geise  not  to  refuse  protection  to  a  woman.  Or  they 
may  be  merely  superstitious  or  fantastic — thus  Conary, 
as  one  of  his  geise,  is  forbidden  to  follow  three  red  horse- 
men on  a  road,  nor  must  he  kill  birds  (this  is  because,  as 
we  shall  see,  his  totem  was  a  bird).  It  is  a  gets  to  the 
Ulster  champion,  Fergus  mac  Roy,  that  he  must  not 
refuse  an  invitation  to  a  feast ;  on  this  turns  the  Tragedy 
of  the  Sons  of  Usnach.  It  is  not  at  all  clear  who  imposed 
these  geise  or  how  any  one  found  out  what  his  personal 
geise  were — all  that  was  doubtless  an  affair  of  the 
Druids.  But  they  were  regarded  as  sacred  obligations, 
and  the  worst  misfortunes  were  to  be  apprehended  from 
breaking  them.  The  word  is  often  translated  "  tabu  " 
by  Irish  scholars,  and  the  institution  has  much  in 
common  with  the  Polynesian  practice  of  that  name,  but 
it  has  so  much  in  its  application  that  is  peculiar  to  the 
Irish  Celts  that  I  prefer,  after  this  explanation,  to  retain 
the  Irish  word  for  it,  as  the  only  fitting  one. 

The  Cowherd's  Fosterling 

We  now  return  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  Etain's 
great-grandson,  Conary.  Her  daughter,  Etain  Oig,  as 
we  have  seen  from  the  genealogical  table,  married 
Cormac,  King  of  Ulster.  She  bore  her  husband  no 
children  save  one  daughter  only.     Embittered  by  her 

1  The  meaning  quoted  will  be  found  in  the  Dictionary  under  the 
alternative  form  geas. 

165 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

barrenness  and  his  want  of  an  heir,  the  king  put  away 
Etain,  and  ordered  her  infant  to  be  abandoned  and 
thrown  into  a  pit.  "  Then  his  two  thralls  take  her  to  a 
pit,  and  she  smiles  a  laughing  smile  at  them  as  they  were 
putting  her  into  it."1  After  that  they  cannot  leave  her 
to  die,  and  they  carry  her  to  a  cowherd  of  Eterskel, 
King  of  Tara,  by  whom  she  is  fostered  and  taught  "  till 
she  became  a  good  embroidress  and  there  was  not  in 
Ireland  a  king's  daughter  dearer  than  she."  Hence  the 
name  she  bore,  Messbuachalla  ("  Messboo'hala"  ),  which 
means  "the  cowherd's  foster-child." 

For  fear  of  her  being  discovered,  the  cowherds  keep 
the  maiden  in  a  house  of  wickerwork  having  only  a 
roof-opening.  But  one  of  King  Eterskel's  folk  has  the 
curiosity  to  climb  up  and  look  in,  and  sees  there  the 
fairest  maiden  in  Ireland.  He  bears  word  to  the  king, 
who  orders  an  opening  to  be  made  in  the  wall  and  the 
maiden  fetched  forth,  for  the  king  was  childless,  and 
it  had  been  prophesied  to  him  by  his  Druid  that  a 
woman  of  unknown  race  would  bear  him  a  son.  Then 
said  the  king  :  "  This  is  the  woman  that  has  been 
prophesied  to  me." 

Parentage  and  Birth  of  Conary 

Before  her  release,  however,  she  is  visited  by  a 
denizen  from  the  Land  of  Youth.  A  great  bird  comes 
down  through  her  roof-window.  On  the  floor  of  the 
hut  his  bird-plumage  falls  from  him  and  reveals  a 
glorious  youth.  Like  Dana6,  like  Leda,  like  Ethlinn 
daughter  of  Balor,  she  gives  her  love  to  the  god.  Ere 
they  part  he  tells  her  that  she  will  be  taken  to  the 
king,  but  that  she  will  bear  to  her  Danaan  lover  a  son 

1  I  quote  from  Whitley  Stokes'  translation,  Revue  Celtique,  January 
1901,  and  succeeding  numbers. 
166 


On  the  floor  of  the  hut  his  biid-plumage  falls  from   him" 


,,„, 


CONARY  THE  HIGH  KING 

whose  name   shall   be   Conary,   and    that    it    shall    be 
forbidden  to  him  to  go  a-hunting  after  birds. 

So  Conary  was  born,  and  grew  up  into  a  wise  and 
noble  youth,  and  he  was  fostered  with  a  lord  named 
Desa,  whose  three  great-grandsons  grew  up  with  him 
from  childhood.  Their  names  were  Ferlee  and  Fergar 
and  Ferrogan  ;  and  Conary,  it  is  said,  loved  them  well 
and  taught  them  his  wisdom. 

Conary  the  High  King 

Then  King  Eterskel  died,  and  a  successor  had  to  be 
appointed.  In  Ireland  the  eldest  son  did  not  succeed 
to  the  throne  or  chieftaincy  as  a  matter  of  right,  but 
the  ablest  and  best  of  the  family  at  the  time  was 
supposed  to  be  selected  by  the  clan.  In  this  tale  we 
have  a  curious  account  of  this  selection  by  means  of 
divination.  A  "  bull-feast "  was  held — i.e.,  a  bull  was 
slain,  and  the  diviner  would  "  eat  his  fill  and  drink  its 
broth  "  ;  then  he  went  to  bed,  where  a  truth-compelling 
spell  was  chanted  over  him.  Whoever  he  saw  in  his 
dream  would  be  king.  So  at  iEgira,  in  Achaea,  as  Whitley 
Stokes  points  out,  the  priestess  of  Earth  drank  the  fresh 
blood  of  a  bull  before  descending  into  the  cave  to  pro- 
phesy. The  dreamer  cried  in  his  sleep  that  he  saw  a 
naked  man  going  towards  Tara  with  a  stone  in  his  sling. 

The  bull-feast  was  held  at  Tara,  but  Conary  was 
then  with  his  three  foster-brothers  playing  a  game  on 
the  Plains  of  Liffey.  They  separated,  Conary  going 
towards  Dublin,  where  he  saw  before  him  a  flock  of 
great  birds,  wonderful  in  colour  and  beauty.  He  drove 
after  them  in  his  chariot,  but  the  birds  would  go  a 
spear-cast  in  front  and  light,  and  fly  on  again,  never 
letting  him  come  up  with  them  till  they  reached  the 
sea-shore.  Then  he  lighted  down  from  his  chariot  and 
took  out  his   sling  to  cast  at  them,  whereupon  they 

167 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

changed  into  armed  men  and  turned  on  him  with 
spears  and  swords.  One  of  them,  however,  protected 
him,  and  said  :  "I  am  Nemglan,  king  of  thy  father's 
birds  ;  and  thou  hast  been  forbidden  to  cast  at  birds, 
for  here  there  is  no  one  but  is  thy  kin."  "  Till  to- 
day," said  Conary,  "I  knew  not  this." 

"Go  to  Tara  to-night,"  said  Nemglan  ;  "the  bull- 
feast  is  there,  and  through  it  thou  shalt  be  made  king. 
A  man  stark  naked,  who  shall  go  at  the  end  of  the 
night  along  one  of  the  roads  to  Tara,  having  a  stone 
and  a  sling — 'tis  he  that  shall  be  king." 

So  Conary  stripped  off  his  raiment  and  went  naked 
through  the  night  to  Tara,  where  all  the  roads  were 
being  watched  by  chiefs  having  changes  of  royal  raiment 
with  them  to  clothe  the  man  who  should  come  accord- 
ing to  the  prophecy.  When  Conary  meets  them  they 
clothe  him  and  bring  him  in,  and  he  is  proclaimed 
King  of  Erin. 

Conary *s  Geise 

A  long  list  of  his  geise  is  here  given,  which  are  said 
to  have  been  declared  to  him  by  Nemglan.  "The 
bird-reign  shall  be  noble,"  said  he,  "  and  these  shall  be 
thy  geise : 

"  Thou  shalt  not  go  right-handwise  round  Tara,  nor  left- 

handwise  round  Bregia,1 
Thou  shalt  not  hunt  the  evil-beasts  of  Cerna, 
Thou  shalt  not  go  out  every  ninth  night  beyond  Tara. 
Thou  shalt  not  sleep  in  a  house  from  which  firelight  shows 

after   sunset,    or    in    which  light  can   be  seen    from 

without. 
No  three  Reds  shall  go  before  thee  to  the  house  of  Red. 
No  rapine  shall  be  wrought  in  thy  reign. 

1  Bregia  was  the  great  plain  lying  eastwards  of  Tara  between 
Boyne  and  Liffey 


BEGINNING  OF  THE  VENGEANCE 

After  sunset,  no  one  woman  alone  or  man  alone  shall  enter 

the  house  in  which  thou  art. 
Thou  shalt  not  interfere  in  a  quarrel  between  two  of  thy 


thrall 


Conary  then  entered  upon  his  reign,  which  was 
marked  by  the  fair  seasons  and  bounteous  harvests 
always  associated  in  the  Irish  mind  with  the  reign 
of  a  good  king.  Foreign  ships  came  to  the  ports. 
Oak-mast  for  the  swine  was  up  to  the  knees  every 
autumn;  the  rivers  swarmed  with  fish.  "  No  one  slew 
another  in  Erin  during  his  reign,  and  to  every  one  in 
Erin  his  fellow's  voice  seemed  as  sweet  as  the  strings  of 
lutes.  From  mid-spring  to  mid-autumn  no  wind  dis- 
turbed a  cow's  tail." 

Beginning  of  the  Vengeance 

Disturbance,  however,  came  from  another  source. 
Conary  had  put  down  all  raiding  and  rapine,  and  his 
three  foster-brothers,  who  were  born  reavers,  took  it  ill. 
They  pursued  their  evil  ways  in  pride  and  wilfulness,  and 
were  at  last  captured  red-handed.  Conary  would  not 
condemn  them  to  death,  as  the  people  begged  him  to  do, 
but  spared  them  for  the  sake  of  his  kinship  in  fosterage. 
They  were,  however,  banished  from  Erin  and  bidden 
to  go  raiding  overseas,  if  raid  they  must.  On  the  seas 
they  met  another  exiled  chief,  Ingcel  the  One-Eyed,  son 
of  the  King  of  Britain,  and  joining  forces  with  him  they 
attacked  the  fortress  in  which  Ingcel's  father,  mother,  and 
brothers  were  guests  at  the  time,  and  all  were  destroyed 
in  a  single  night.  It  was  then  the  turn  of  Ingcel  to  ask 
their  help  in  raiding  the  land  of  Erin,  and  gathering  a 
host  of  other  outlawed  men,  including  the  seven  Manes, 
sons  of  Ailell  and  Maev  of  Connacht,  besides  Ferlee, 
Fergar,  and  Ferrogan,  they  made  a  descent  upon  Ireland, 
taking  land  on  the  Dublin  coast  near  Howth, 

169 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Meantime  Conary  had  been  lured  by  the  machina- 
tions of  the  Danaans  into  breaking  one  after  another  of 
his  geise.  He  settles  a  quarrel  between  two  of  his  serfs 
in  Munster,  and  travelling  back  to  Tara  they  see  the 
country  around  it  lit  with  the  glare  of  fires  and  wrapped 
in  clouds  of  smoke.  A  host  from  the  North,  they 
think,  must  be  raiding  the  country,  and  to  escape  it 
Conary's  company  have  to  turn  right-handwise  round 
Tara  and  then  left-handwise  round  the  Plain  of  Bregia. 
But  the  smoke  and  flames  were  an  illusion  made  by  the 
Fairy  Folk,  who  are  now  drawing  the  toils  closer  round 
the  doomed  king.  On  his  way  past  Bregia  he  chases 
"the  evil  beasts  of  Cerna" — whatever  they  were — 
"  but  he  saw  it  not  till  the  chase  was  ended." 

Da  Derga's  Hostel  and  the  Three  Reds 

Conary  had  now  to  find  a  resting-place  for  the  night, 
and  he  recollects  that  he  is  not  far  from  the  Hostel  of 
the  Leinster  lord,  Da  Derga,  which  gives  its  name  to 
this  bardic  tale.1  Conary  had  been  generous  to  him 
when  Da  Derga  came  visiting  to  Tara,  and  he  determined 
to  seek  his  hospitality  for  the  night.  Da  Derga  dwelt 
in  a  vast  hall  with  seven  doors  near  to  the  present  town 
of  Dublin,  probably  at  Donnybrook,  on  the  high-road  to 
the  south.  As  the  cavalcade  are  journeying  thither  an 
ominous  incident  occurs — Conary  marks  in  front  of  them 
on  the  road  three  horsemen  clad  all  in  red  and  riding 
on  red  horses.  He  remembers  his  gets  about  the  "  three 
Reds,"  and  sends  a  messenger  forward  to  bid  them  fall 
behind.  But  however  the  messenger  lashes  his  horse 
he  fails  to  get  nearer  than  the  length  of  a  spear-cast 
to  the  three  Red  Riders.  He  shouts  to  them  to  turn 
back  and  follow  the  king,  but  one  of  them,  looking  over 
his  shoulder,  bids  him  ironically  look  out  for  "great 

1  "  The  Destruction  of  Da  Derga's  Hostel," 
170 


Conary  in  the  Toils  of  the  Fairy  Folk 


170 


GATHERING  OF  THE  HOSTS 

news  from  a  Hostel."  Again  and  again  the  messenger 
is  sent  to  them  with  promises  of  great  reward  if  they 
will  fall  behind  instead  of  preceding  Conary.  At  last 
one  of  them  chants  a  mystic  and  terrible  strain.  "Lo, 
my  son,  great  the  news.  Weary  are  the  steeds  we  ride 
— the  steeds  from  the  fairy  mounds.  Though  we  are 
living,  we  are  dead.  Great  are  the  signs  :  destruction 
of  life  ;  sating  of  ravens  ;  feeding  of  crows  ;  strife  of 
slaughter  ;  wetting  of  sword-edge  ;  shields  with  broken 
bosses  after  sundown.  Lo,  my  son  !  "  Then  they  ride 
forward,  and,  alighting  from  their  red  steeds,  fasten  them 
at  the  portal  of  Da  Derga's  Hostel  and  sit  down  inside. 
"Derga,"  it  may  be  explained,  means  "red."  Conary 
had  therefore  been  preceded  by  three  red  horsemen  to 
the  House  of  Red.  "All  my^m^,"  he  remarks  fore- 
bodingly, "  have  seized  me  to-night." 

Gathering  of  the  Hosts 

From  this  point  the  story  of  Conary  Mor  takes  on 
a  character  of  supernatural  vastness  and  mystery,  the 
imagination  of  the  bardic  narrator  dilating,  as  it  were, 
with  the  approach  of  the  crisis.  Night  has  fallen,  and 
the  pirate  host  of  Ingcel  is  encamped  on  the  shores  of 
Dublin  Bay.  They  hear  the  noise  of  the  royal  cavalcade, 
and  a  long-sighted  messenger  is  sent  out  to  discover  what 
it  is.  He  brings  back  word  of  the  glittering  and  multi- 
tudinous host  which  has  followed  Conary  to  the  Hostel. 
A  crashing  noise  is  heard — Ingcel  asks  of  Ferrogan 
what  it  may  be — it  is  the  giant  warrior  mac  Cecht  striking 
flint  on  steel  to  kindle  fire  for  the  king's  feast.  "  God 
send  that  Conary  be  not  there  to-night,"  cry  the  sons  of 
Desa  ;  "  woe  that  he  should  be  under  the  hurt  of  his 
foes."  But  Ingcel  reminds  them  of  their  compact — 
he  had  given  them  the  plundering  of  his  own  father 
and  brethren  ;  they  cannot  refuse  to  stand  by  him  in  the 

171 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

attack  he  meditates  on  Conary  in  the  Hostel.  A  glare 
of  the  fire  lit  by  mac  Cecht  is  now  perceived  by  the 
pirate  host,  shining  through  the  wheels  of  the  chariots 
which  are  drawn  up  around  the  open  doors  of  the  Hostel. 
Another  of  the  geise  of  Conary  has  been  broken. 

Ingcel  and  his  host  now  proceed  to  build  a  great  cairn 
of  stones,  each  man  contributing  one  stone,  so  that  there 
may  be  a  memorial  of  the  fight,  and  also  a  record  of 
the  number  slain  when  each  survivor  removes  his  stone 
again. 

The  Morrigan 

The  scene  now  shifts  to  the  Hostel,  where  the  king's 
party  has  arrived  and  is  preparing  for  the  night.  A 
solitary  woman  comes  to  the  door  and  seeks  admission. 
"  As  long  as  a  weaver's  beam  were  each  of  her  two  shins, 
and  they  were  as  dark  as  the  back  of  a  stag-beetle.  A 
greyish,  woolly  mantle  she  wore.  Her  hair  reached  to 
her  knee.  Her  mouth  was  twisted  to  one  side  of  her 
head."  It  was  the  Morrigan,  the  Danaan  goddess  of 
Death  and  Destruction.  She  leant  against  the  doorpost 
of  the  house  and  looked  evilly  on  the  king  and  his 
company.  "  Well,  O  woman,"  said  Conary,  "  if  thou 
art  a  witch,  what  seest  thou  for  us  ?"  "Truly  I  see 
for  thee,"  she  answered,  "that  neither  fell  nor  flesh  of 
thine  shall  escape  from  the  place  into  which  thou  hast 
come,  save  what  birds  will  bear  away  in  their  claws." 
She  asks  admission.  Conary  declares  that  his  gets 
forbids  him  to  receive  a  solitary  man  or  woman  after 
sunset.  "  If  in  sooth,"  she  says,  "  it  has  befallen  the 
king  not  to  have  room  in  his  house  for  the  meal  and 
bed  of  a  solitary  woman,  they  will  be  gotten  apart 
from  him  from  some  one  possessing  generosity."  "  Let 
her  in,  then,"  says  Conary,  "though  it  is  a  gets  of 
mine." 
17Z 


CONARY  AND  HIS  RETINUE 

Conary  and  his  Retinue 

A  lengthy  and  brilliant  passage  now  follows  describ- 
ing how  Ingcel  goes  to  spy  out  the  state  of  affairs  in 
the  Hostel.     Peeping  through  the  chariot-wheels,  he 
takes  note  of  all  he  sees,  and  describes  to  the  sons  of 
Desa  the  appearance  and  equipment  of  each  prince  and 
mighty  man  in  Conary's  retinue,  while  Ferrogan  and 
his  brother  declare  who  he  is  and  what  destruction  he 
will  work  in  the  coming  fight.     There  is  Cormac,  son 
of  Conor,  King  of  Ulster,  the  fair  and  good  ;  there  are 
three   huge,  black   and   black-robed   warriors    of  j  the 
Picts  ;    there  is  Conary's  steward,  with  bristling  hair, 
who  settles  every  dispute — a  needle  would  be  heard 
falling  when  he  raises  his  voice  to  speak,  and  he  bears 
a  staff  of  office  the  size  of  a  mill-shaft ;  there  is  the 
warrior  mac  Cecht,  who   lies   supine  with   his  knees 
drawn  up — they  resemble  two  bare  hills,  his  eyes  are 
like  lakes,  his  nose  a  mountain-peak,  his  sword  shines 
like  a  river  in  the  sun.     Conary's  three  sons  are  there, 
golden-haired,  silk-robed,  beloved  of  all  the  household, 
with  "  manners  of  ripe  maidens,  and  hearts  of  brothers, 
and  valour  of  bears."     When  Ferrogan  hears  of  them 
he  weeps  and  cannot  proceed  till  hours  of  the  night 
have  passed.     Three   Fomorian   hostages   of  horrible 
aspect  are  there  also  ;  and  Conall  of  the  Victories  with 
his   blood-red    shield ;    and   Duftach   of  Ulster   with 
his   magic    spear,   which,    when    there    is    a    premoni- 
tion of  battle,  must  be  kept   in  a  brew  of  soporific 
herbs,  or  it  will  flame  on  its  haft  and  fly  forth  raging 
for  massacre  ;  and  three  giants  from  the  Isle  of  Man 
with  horses'  manes  reaching  to  their  heels.     A  strange 
and  unearthly  touch  is  introduced  by  a  description  of 
three  naked  and  bleeding  forms  hanging  by  ropes  from 
the  roof — they  are  the  daughters  of  the  Bav,  another 

173 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

name  for  the  Morrigan,  or  war-goddess,  "three  of 
awful  boding,"  says  the  tale  enigmatically,  "those  are 
the  three  that  are  slaughtered  at  every  time."  We 
are  probably  to  regard  them  as  visionary  beings,  por- 
tending war  and  death,  visible  only  to  Ingcel.  The 
hall  with  its  separate  chambers  is  full  of  warriors,  cup- 
bearers, musicians  playing,  and  jugglers  doing  wonderful 
feats  ;  and  Da  Derga  with  his  attendants  dispensing 
food  and  drink.  Conary.himself  is  described  as  a  youth  ; 
"the  ardour  and  energy  of  a  king  has  he  and  the 
counsel  of  a  sage  ;  the  mantle  I  saw  round  him  is  even 
as  the  mist  of  May-day — lovelier  in  each  hue  of  it  than 
the  other."  His  golden-hilted  sword  lies  beside  him 
— a  forearm's  length  of  it  has  escaped  from  the 
scabbard,  shining  like  a  beam  of  light.  "  He  is  the 
mildest  and  gentlest  and  most  perfect  king  that  has 
come  into  the  world,  even  Conary  son  of  Eterskel  .  .  . 
great  is  the  tenderness  of  the  sleepy,  simple  man  till 
he  has  chanced  on  a  deed  of  valour.  But  if  his  fury 
and  his  courage  are  awakened  when  the  champions  of 
Erin  and  Alba  are  at  him  in  the  house,  the  Destruction 
will  not  be  wrought  so  long  as  he  is  therein  .  .  .  sad 
were  the  quenching  of  that  reign." 

Champions  at  the  House 

Ingcel  and  the  sons  of  Desa  then  march  to  the  attack 
and  surround  the  Hostel : 

"  Silence  a  while  !  "  says  Conary,  "what  is  this  ?" 

"  Champions  at  the  house,"  says  Conall  of  the  Vic- 
tories. 

"  There  are  warriors  for  them  here,"  answers  Conary. 

"  They  will  be  needed  to-night,"  Conall  rejoins. 

One  of  Desa's  sons  rushes  first  into  the  Hostel.  His 
head  is  struck  off  and  cast  out  of  it  again.  Then  the 
great  struggle  begins.  The  Hostel  is  set  on  fire,  but 
i74 


DEATH  OF  CONARY 

the  fire  is  quenched  with  wine  or  any  liquids  that  are 
in  it.  Conary  and  his  people  sally  forth — hundreds 
are  slain,  and  the  reavers,  for  the  moment,  are  routed. 
But  Conary,  who  has  done  prodigies  of  fighting,  is  athirst 
and  can  do  no  more  till  he  gets  water.  The  reavers  by 
advice  of  their  wizards  have  cut  off  the  river  Dodder, 
which  flowed  through  the  Hostel,  and  all  the  liquids  in 
the  house  had  been  spilt  on  the  fires. 

Death  of  Conary 

The  king,  who  is  perishing  of  thirst,  asks  mac  Cecht 
to  procure  him  a  drink,  and  mac  Cecht  turns  to  Conall 
and  asks  him  whether  he  will  get  the  drink  for  the 
king  or  stay  to  protect  him  while  mac  Cecht  does  it. 
"Leave  the  defence  of  the  king  to  us,"  says  Conall, 
"and  go  thou  to  seek  the  drink,  for  of  thee  it  is 
demanded."  Mac  Cecht  then,  taking  Conary's  golden 
cup,  rushes  forth,  bursting  through  the  surrounding 
host,  and  goes  to  seek  for  water.  Then  Conall,  and 
Cormac  of  Ulster,  and  the  other  champions,  issue  forth 
in  turn,  slaying  multitudes  of  the  enemy  ;  some  return 
wounded  and  weary  to  the  little  band  in  the  Hostel, 
while  others  cut  their  way  through  the  ring  of 
foes.  Conall,  Sencha,  and  Duftach  stand  by  Conary 
till  the  end ;  but  mac  Cecht  is  long  in  returning, 
Conary  perishes  of  thirst,  and  the  three  heroes  then 
fight  their  way  out  and  escape,  "  wounded,  broken,  and 
maimed." 

Meantime  mac  Cecht  has  rushed  over  Ireland  in 
frantic  search  for  the  water.  But  the  Fairy  Folk,  who 
are  here  manifestly  elemental  powers  controlling  the 
forces  of  nature,  have  sealed  all  the  sources  against  him. 
He  tries  the  Well  of  Kesair  in  Wicklow  in  vain  ;  he  goes 
to  the  great  rivers,  Shannon  and  Slayney,  Bann  and 
Barrow — they  all  hide  away  at  his  approach  ;  the  lakes 

i75 


MYTHS  OF   THE  CELTIC  RACE 

deny  him  also  ;  at  last  he  finds  a  lake,  Loch  Gara  in 
Roscommon,  which  failed  to  hide  itself  in  time,  and 
thereat  he  fills  his  cup.  In  the  morning  he  returned 
to  the  Hostel  with  the  precious  and  hard-won  draught, 
but  found  the  defenders  all  dead  or  fled,  and  two  of 
the  reavers  in  the  act  of  striking  off  the  head  of  Conary. 
Mac  Cecht  struck  off  the  head  of  one  of  them,  and 
hurled  a  huge  pillar  stone  after  the  other,  who  was 
escaping  with  Conary's  head.  The  reaver  fell  dead  on 
the  spot,  and  mac  Cecht,  taking  up  his  master's  head, 
poured  the  water  into  its  mouth.  Thereupon  the  head 
spoke,  and  praised  and  thanked  him  for  the  deed. 

Mac  Cecht's  "Wound 

A  woman  then  came  by  and  saw  mac  Cecht  lying 
exhausted  and  wounded  on  the  field. 

"  Come  hither,  O  woman,"  says  mac  Cecht. 

"  I  dare  not  go  there,"  says  the  woman,  "  for  horror 
and  fear  of  thee." 

But  he  persuades  her  to  come,  and  says  :  "  I  know 
not  whether  it  is  a  fly  or  gnat  or  an  ant  that  nips  me 
in  the  wound." 

The  woman  looked  and  saw  a  hairy  wolf  buried  as 
far  as  the  two  shoulders  in  the  wound.  She  seized  it 
by  the  tail  and  dragged  it  forth,  and  it  took  "  the  full 
of  its  jaws  out  of  him." 

"Truly,"  says  the  woman,  "this  is  an  ant  of  the 
Ancient  Land." 

And  mac  Cecht  took  it  by  the  throat  and  smote  it  on 
the  forehead,  so  that  it  died. 

"Is  thy  Lord  Alive?*' 

The  tale  ends  in  a  truly  heroic  strain.  Conall  of  the 
Victories,  as  we  have  seen,  had  cut  his  way  out  after 
the  king's  death,  and  made  his  way  to  Teltin,  where  he 
176 


"IS  THY  LORD  ALIVE!?'* 

found  his  father,  Amorgin,  in  the  garth  before  his 
dun.  Conall's  shield-arm  had  been  wounded  by  thrice 
fifty  spears,  and  he  reached  Teltin  now  with  half  a 
shield,  and  his  sword,  and  the  fragments  of  his  two 
spears. 

"  Swift  are  the  wolves  that  have  hunted  thee,  my 
son,"  said  his  father. 

"  Tis  this  that  has  wounded  us,  old  hero,  an  evil 
conflict  with  warriors,"  Conall  replied. 

"  Is  thy  lord  alive  ? "  asked  Amorgin. 

"  He  is  not  alive,"  says  Conall. 

"I  swear  to  God  what  the  great  tribes  of  Ulster 
swear  :  he  is  a  coward  who  goes  out  of  a  fight  alive 
having  left  his  lord  with  his  foes  in  death." 

"  My  wounds  are  not  white,  old  hero,"  says  Conall. 
He  showed  him  his  shield-arm,  whereon  were  thrice  fifty 
spear-wounds.  The  sword-arm,  which  the  shield  had  not 
guarded,  was  mangled  and  maimed  and  wounded  and 
pierced,  save  that  the  sinews  kept  it  to  the  body  without 
separation. 

"  That  arm  fought  to-night,  my  son,"  says  Amorgin. 

"True  is  that,  old  hero,"  says  Conall  of  the 
Victories.  "  Many  are  they  to  whom  it  gave  drinks  of 
death  to-night  in  front  of  the  Hostel." 

So  ends  the  story  of  Etain,  and  of  the  overthrow  of 
Fairyland  and  the  fairy  vengeance  wrought  on  the 
great-grandson  of  Eochy  the  High  King. 


177 


CHAPTER  V  :  TALES  OF  THE 
ULTONIAN  CYCLE 

The  Curse  of  Macha 

THE  centre  of  interest  in  Irish  legend  now  shifts 
from  Tara  to  Ulster,  and  a  multitude  of  heroic 
tales  gather  round  the  Ulster  king  Conor 
mac  Nessa,  round  Cuchulain,1  his  great  vassal,  and  the 
Red  Branch  Order  of  chivalry,  which  had  its  seat  in 
Emain  Macha. 

The  legend  of  the  foundation  of  Emain  Macha  has 
already  Deen  told.2  But  Macha,  who  was  no  mere 
woman,  but  a  supernatural  being,  appears  again  in  con- 
nexion with  the  history  of  Ulster  in  a  very  curious  tale 
which  was  supposed  to  account  for  the  strange  debility 
or  helplessness  that  at  critical  moments  sometimes  fell, 
it  was  believed,  upon  the  warriors  of  the  province. 

The  legend  tells  that  a  wealthy  Ulster  farmer  named 
Crundchu,  son  of  Agnoman,  dwelling  in  a  solitary  place 
among  the  hills,  found  one  day  in  his  dun  a  young 
woman  of  great  beauty  and  in  splendid  array,  whom  he 
had  never  seen  before.  Crundchu,  we  are  told,  was  a 
widower,  his  wife  having  died  after  bearing  him  four 
sons.  The  strange  woman,  without  a  word,  set  herself 
to  do  the  houshold  tasks,  prepared  dinner,  milked  the 
cow,  and  took  on  herself  all  the  duties  of  the  mistress 
of  the  household.  At  night  she  lay  down  at  Crund- 
chu's  side,  and  thereafter  dwelt  with  him  as  his  wife  ; 
and  they  loved  each  other  dearly.  Her  name  was 
Macha. 

One  day  Crundchu  prepared  himself  to  go  to  a  great 
fair  or  assembly  of  the  Ultonians,  where  there  would 
be  feasting  and  horse-racing,  tournaments  and  music,  and 
merrymaking  of  all  kinds.     Macha  begged  her  husband 

1  Pronounced  "  Koohoo'lin."  2  Seep.  150. 

178 


The   Curse  of  Macha 


178 


THE  CURSE  OF  MACHA 

not  to  go.  He  persisted.  "  Then,"  she  said,  "  at  least 
do  not  speak  of  me  in  the  assembly,  for  I  may  dwell 
with  you  only  so  long  as  I  am  not  spoken  of." 

It  has  been  observed  that  we  have  here  the  earliest 
appearance  in  post-classical  European  literature  of  the 
well-known  motive  of  the  fairy  bride  who  can  stay  with 
her  mortal  lover  only  so  long  as  certain  conditions  are 
observed,  such  as  that  he  shall  not  spy  upon  her,  ill- 
treat  her,  or  ask  of  her  origin. 

Crundchu  promised  to  obey  the  injunction,  and  went 
to  the  festival.  Here  the  two  horses  of  the  king 
carried  off  prize  after  prize  in  the  racing,  and  the  people 
cried  :  "  There  is  not  in  Ireland  a  swifter  than  the 
King's  pair  of  horses." 

"  I  have  a  wife  at  home,"  said  Crundchu,  in  a 
moment  of  forgetfulness,  "  who  can  run  quicker  than 
these  horses." 

"  Seize  that  man,"  said  the  angry  king,  "  and  hold 
him  till  his  wife  be  brought  to  the  contest." 

So  messengers  went  for  Macha,  and  she  was  brought 
before  the  assembly  ;  and  she  was  with  child.  The 
king  bade  her  prepare  for  the  race.  She  pleaded  her 
condition.  "  I  am  close  upon  my  hour,"  she  said. 
"Then  hew  her  man  in  pieces,"  said  the  king  to  his 
guards.  Macha  turned  to  the  bystanders.  "  Help 
me,"  she  cried,  "  for  a  mother  hath  borne  each  of  you  ! 
Give  me  but  a  short  delay  till  I  am  delivered."  But 
the  king  and  all  the  crowd  in  their  savage  lust  for 
sport  would  hear  of  no  delay.  "  Then  bring  up  the 
horses,"  said  Macha,  "  and  because  you  have  no  pity  a 
heavier  infamy  shall  fall  upon  you."  So  she  raced 
against  the  horses,  and  outran  them,  but  as  she  came 
to  the  goal  she  gave  a  great  cry,  and  her  travail 
seized  her,  and  she  gave  birth  to  twin  children.  As 
she  uttered  that  cry,  however,  all   the   spectators   felt 

179 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

themselves  seized  with  pangs  like  her  own  and  had  no 
more  strength  than  a  woman  in  her  travail.  And  Macha 
prophesied  :  "  From  this  hour  the  shame  you  have 
wrought  on  me  will  fall  upon  each  man  of  Ulster.  In 
the  hours  of  your  greatest  need  ye  shall  be  weak  and 
helpless  as  women  in  childbirth,  and  this  shall  endure 
for  five  days  and  four  nights — to  the  ninth  generation 
the  curse  shall  be  upon  you."  And  so  it  came  to  pass  ; 
and  this  is  the  cause  of  the  Debility  of  the  Ultonians 
that  was  wont  to  afflict  the  warriors  of  the  province. 

Conor  mac  Nessa 

The  chief  occasion  on  which  this  Debility  was  mani- 
fested was  when  Maev,  Queen  of  Connacht,  made  the 
famous  Cattle-raid  of  Quelgny  {Tain  Bo  Cuailgnt), 
which  forms  the  subject  of  the  greatest  tale  in  Irish 
literature.  We  have  now  to  relate  the  preliminary 
history  leading  up  to  this  epic  tale  and  introducing  its 
chief  characters. 

Fachtna  the  Giant,  King  of  Ulster,  had  to  wife 
Nessa,  daughter  of  Echid  Yellow-heel,  and  she  bore  him 
a  son  named  Conor.  But  when  Fachtna  died  Fergus 
son  of  Roy,  his  half-brother,  succeeded  him,  Conor 
being  then  but  a  youth.  Now  Fergus  loved  Nessa, 
and  would  have  wedded  her,  but  she  made  conditions. 
"Let  my  son  Conor  reign  one  year,"  she  said,  "  so  that 
his  posterity  may  be  the  descendants  of  a  king,  and  I 
consent."  Fergus  agreed,  and  young  Conor  took  the 
throne.  But  so  wise  and  prosperous  was  his  rule  and 
so  sagacious  his  judgments  that,  at  the  year's  end,  the 
people,  as  Nessa  foresaw,  would  have  him  remain  king  ; 
and  Fergus,  who  loved  the  feast  and  the  chase  better 
than  the  toils  of  kingship,  was  content  to  have  it  so, 
and  remained  at  Conor's  court  for  a  time,  great, 
honoured,  and  happy,  but  king  no  longer. 


THE  RED  BRANCH 

The  Red  Branch 

In  his  time  was  the  glory  of  the  "  Red  Branch  "  in 
Ulster,  who  were  the  offspring  of  Ross  the  Red,  King 
of  Ulster,  with  collateral  relatives  and  allies,  forming 
ultimately  a  kind  of  warlike  Order.  Most  of  the  Red 
Branch  heroes  appear  in  the  Ultonian  Cycle  of  legend, 
so  that  a  statement  of  their  names  and  relationships  may 
be  usefully  placed  here  before  we  proceed  to  speak  of  their 
doings.  It  is  noticeable  that  they  have  a  partly  super- 
natural ancestry.  Ross  the  Red,  it  is  said,_  wedded 
a  Danaan  woman,  Maga,  daughter  of  Angus  Og.1  As 
a  second  wife  he  wedded  a  maiden  named  Roy.  His 
descendants  are  as  follows  : 


Maga  =j=  Ross  the  Red  =j=  Roy 


Fachtna  =~  Nessa      Fergus  mac  Roy 
the  Giant 

Conor  mac 

Nessa 


But  Maga  was  also  wedded  to  the  Druid  Cathbad,  and 
by  him  had  three  daughters,  whose  descendants  played 
a  notable  part  in  the  Ultonian  legendary  cycle. 


Cathbad  z=  Maga 


Dectera  2  =~  Lugh  Elva  =p  Usna  Finchoom 


Amorgin 


Cuchulain  Naisi     Ainle'      Ardan  Conall  of  the 

Victories 

1  See  pp.  121-123  for  an  account  of  this  deity. 

2  Dectera  also   had  a   mortal   husband,  Sualtam,  who  passed   as 
Cuchulain's  father. 

181 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Birth  of  Cuchulain 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Conor  mac  Nessa  that  the 
birth  of  the  mightiest  hero  of  the  Celtic  race,  Cuchulain, 
came  about,  and  this  was  the  manner  of  it.  The  maiden 
Dectera,  daughter  of  Cathbad,  with  fifty  young  girls, 
her  companions  at  the  court  of  Conor,  one  day  dis- 
appeared, and  for  three  years  no  searching  availed  to 
discover  their  dwelling-place  or  their  fate.  At  last  one 
summer  day  a  flock  of  birds  descended  on  the  fields 
about  Emain  Macha  and  began  to  destroy  the  crops 
and  fruit.  The  king,  with  Fergus  and  others  of  his 
nobles,  went  out  against  them  with  slings,  but  the  birds 
flew  only  a  little  way  off,  luring  the  party  on  and  on  till 
at  last  they  found  themselves  near  the  Fairy  Mound  of 
Angus  on  the  river  Boyne.  Night  fell,  and  the  king 
sent  Fergus  with  a  party  to  discover  some  habitation 
where  they  might  sleep.  A  hut  was  found,  where  they 
betook  themselves  to  rest,  but  one  of  them,  exploring 
further,  came  to  a  noble  mansion  by  the  river,  and  on 
entering  it  was  met  by  a  young  man  of  splendid  appear- 
ance. With  the  stranger  was  a  lovely  woman,  his  wife, 
and  fifty  maidens,  who  saluted  the  Ulster  warrior  with 
joy.  And  he  recognised  in  them  Dectera  and  her 
maidens,  whom  they  had  missed  for  three  years,  and  in 
the  glorious  youth  Lugh  of  the  Long  Arm,  son  of 
Ethlinn.  He  went  back  with  his  tale  to  the  king,  who 
immediately  sent  for  Dectera  to  come  to  him.  She, 
alleging  that  she  was  ill,  requested  a  delay ;  and  so  the 
night  passed  ;  but  in  the  morning  there  was  found  in 
the  hut  among  the  Ulster  warriors  a  new-born  male 
infant.  It  was  Dectera's  gift  to  Ulster,  and  for  this 
purpose  she  had  lured  them  to  the  fairy  palace  by  the 
Boyne.  The  child  was  taken  home  by  the  warriors  and 
was  given  to  Dectera's  sister,  Finchoom,  who  was  then 
182 


The    Boy    Setanta  follows   King  Conor  X82 


THE  HOUND  OF  CULLAN 

nursing  her  own  child,  Conall,  and  the  boy's  name  was 
called  Setanta.  And  the  part  of  Ulster  from  Dundalk 
southward  to  Usna  in  Meath,  which  is  called  the  Plain 
of  Murthemney,  was  allotted  for  his  inheritance,  and  in 
later  days  his  fortress  and  dwelling-place  was  in  Dundalk. 
It  is  said  that  the  Druid  Morann  prophesied  over  the 
infant  :  "  His  praise  will  be  in  the  mouths  of  all  men  ; 
charioteers  and  warriors,  kings  and  sages  will  recount 
his  deeds  ;  he  will  win  the  love  of  many.  This  child 
will  avenge  all  your  wrongs  ;  he  will  give  combat  at 
your  fords,  he  will  decide  all  your  quarrels." 

The  Hound  of  Cullan 

When  he  was  old  enough  the  boy  Setanta  went  to 
the  court  of  Conor  to  be  brought  up  and  instructed 
along  with  the  other  sons  of  princes  and  chieftains.  It 
was  now  that  the  event  occurred  from  which  he  got  the 
name  of  Cuchulain,  by  which  he  was  hereafter  to  be 
known. 

One  afternoon  King  Conor  and  his  nobles  were  going 
to  a  feast  to  which  they  were  bidden  at  the  dun  of 
a  wealthy  smith  named  Cullan,  in  Quelgny,  where 
they  also  meant  to  spend  the  night.  Setanta  was  to 
accompany  them,  but  as  the  cavalcade  set  off  he  was  in 
the  midst  of  a  game  of  hurley  with  his  companions  and 
bade  the  king  go  forward,  saying  he  would  follow  later 
when  his  play  was  done.  The  royal  company  arrived 
at  their  destination  as  night  began  to  fall.  Cullan 
received  them  hospitably,  and  in  the  great  hall  they 
made  merry  over  meat  and  wine  while  the  lord  of  the 
house  barred  the  gates  of  his  fortress  and  let  loose 
outside  a  huge  and  ferocious  dog  which  every  night 
guarded  the  lonely  mansion,  and  under  whose  protection, 
it  was  said,  Cullan  feared  nothing  less  than  the  onset  of 
an  army. 

183 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

But  they  had  forgotten  Setanta  !  In  the  middle  of 
the  laughter  and  music  of  the  feast  a  terrible  sound 
was  heard  which  brought  every  man  to  his  feet  in  an 
instant.  It  was  the  tremendous  baying  of  the  hound 
of  Cullan,  giving  tongue  as  it  saw  a  stranger  approach. 
Soon  the  noise  changed  to  the  howls  of  a  fierce  combat, 
but,  on  rushing  to  the  gates,  they  saw  in  the  glare  of 
the  lanterns  a  young  boy  and  the  hound  lying  dead 
at  his  feet.  When  it  flew  at  him  he  had  seized  it  by 
the  throat  and  dashed  its  life  out  against  the  side-posts 
of  the  gate.  The  warriors  bore  in  the  lad  with  rejoicing 
and  wonder,  but  soon  the  triumph  ceased,  for  there 
stood  their  host,  silent  and  sorrowful  over  the  body  of 
his  faithful  friend,  who  had  died  for  the  safety  of  his 
house  and  would  never  guard  it  more. 

"  Give  me,"  then  said  the  lad  Setanta,  "  a  whelp  of 
that  hound,  O  Cullan,  and  I  will  train  him  to  be  all  to 
you  that  his  sire  was.  And  until  then  give  me  shield 
and  spear  and  I  will  myself  guard  your  house  ;  never 
hound  guarded  it  better  than  I  will." 

And  all  the  company  shouted  applause  at  the  generous 
pledge,  and  on  the  spot,  as  a  commemoration  of  his 
first  deed  of  valour,  they  named  the  lad  Cuchulain,1 
the  Hound  of  Cullan,  and  by  that  name  he  was  known 
until  he  died. 

Cuchulain  Assumes  Arms 

When  he  was  older,  and  near  the  time  when  he 
might  assume  the  weapons  of  manhood,  it  chanced  one 
day  that  he  passed  close  by  where  Cathbad  the  Druid 

1  It  is  noticeable  that  among  the  characters  figuring  in  the 
Ultonian  legendary  cycle  many  names  occur  of  which  the  words 
Cu  or  Con  (hound)  form  a  part.  Thus  we  have  Conor  (Conchobar) 
himself,  Curoi,  Conary,  Conall,  Cucorb,  &c.  The  reference  is  no 
doubt  to  the  Irish  wolf-hound,  a  fine  type  of  valour  and  beauty. 
184 


The  Hound  of  Cullan 


184 


CUCHULAIN'S  COURTSHIP  OF  EMER 

was  teaching  to  certain  of  his  pupils  the  art  of  divina- 
tion and  augury.  One  of  them  asked  of  Cathbad 
for  what  kind  of  enterprise  that  same  day  might  be 
favourable  ;  and  Cathbad,  having  worked  a  spell  of 
divination,  said  :  "  The  youth  who  should  take  up 
:rms  on  this  day  would  become  of  all  men  in  Erin 
most  famous  for  great  deeds,  yet  will  his  life  be  short 
and  fleeting."  Cuchulain  passed  on  as  though  he 
marked  it  not,  and  he  came  before  the  king.  "  What 
wilt  thou  ? "  asked  Conor.  "  To  take  the  arms  of 
manhood,"  said  Cuchulain.  "  So  be  it,"  said  the  king, 
and  he  gave  the  lad  two  great  spears.  But  Cuchulain 
shook  them  in  his  hand,  and  the  staves  splintered  and 
broke.  And  so  he  did  with  many  others  ;  and  the 
chariots  in  which  they  set  him  to  drive  he  broke  to 
pieces  with  stamping  of  his  foot,  until  at  last  the  king's 
own  chariot  of  war  and  his  two  spears  and  sword  were 
brought  to  the  lad,  and  these  he  could  not  break,  do 
what  he  would  ;  so  this  equipment  he  retained. 

His  Courtship  of  Emer 

The  young  Cuchulain  was  by  this  grown  so  fair  and 
noble  a  youth  that  every  maid  or  matron  on  whom  he 
looked  was  bewitched  by  him,  and  the  men  of  Ulster 
bade  him  take  a  wife  of  his  own.  But  none  were 
pleasing  to  him,  till  at  last  he  saw  the  lovely  maiden 
Emer,  daughter  of  Forgall,  the  lord  of  Lusca,1  and  he 
resolved  to  woo  her  for  his  bride.  So  he  bade  harness 
his  chariot,  and  with  Laeg,  his  friend  and  charioteer, 
he  journeyed  to  Dun  Forgall. 

As  he  drew  near,  the  maiden  was  with  her  com- 
panions, daughters  of  the  vassals  of  Forgall,  and  she 
was  teaching  them  embroidery,  for  in  that  art  she 
excelled    all    women.       She    had    "the    six    gifts    of 

1  Now  Lusk,  a  village  on  the  coast  a  few  miles  north  of  Dublin. 

185 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

womanhood — the  gift  of  beauty,  the  gift  of  voice, 
the  gift  of  sweet  speech,  the  gift  of  needlework,  the 
gift  of  wisdom,  and  the  gift  of  chastity." 

Hearing  the  thunder  of  horse-hoofs  and  the  clangour 
of  the  chariot  from  afar,  she  bade  one  of  the  maidens 
go  to  the  rampart  of  the  Dun  and  tell  her  what  she 
saw.  "  A  chariot  is  coming  on,"  said  the  maiden, 
"  drawn  by  two  steeds  with  tossing  heads,  fierce  and 
powerful  ;  one  is  grey,  the  other  black.  They  breathe 
fire  from  their  jaws,  and  the  clods  of  turf  they  throw 
up  behind  them  as  they  race  are  like  a  flock  of  birds 
that  follow  in  their  track.  In  the  chariot  is  a  dark,  sad 
man,  comeliest  of  the  men  of  Erin.  He  is  clad  in  a 
crimson  cloak,  with  a  brooch  of  gold,  and  on  his  back 
is  a  crimson  shield  with  a  silver  rim  wrought  with 
figures  of  beasts.  "With  him  as  his  charioteer  is  a  tall, 
slender,  freckled  man  with  curling  red  hair  held  by  a 
fillet  of  bronze,  with  plates  of  gold  at  either  side  of  his 
face.     With  a  goad  of  red  gold  he  urges  the  horses." 

When  the  chariot  drew  up  Emer  went  to  meet 
Cuchulain  and  saluted  him.  But  when  he  urged  his 
love  upon  her  she  told  him  of  the  might  and  the 
wiliness  of  her  father  Forgall,  and  of  the  strength  of 
the  champions  that  guarded  her  lest  she  should  wed 
against  his  will.  And  when  he  pressed  her  more  she 
said  :  "  I  may  not  marry  before  my  sister  Fial,  who  is 
older  than  I.  She  is  with  me  here — she  is  excellent 
in  handiwork."  "It  is  not  Fial  whom  1  love,"  said 
Cuchulain.  Then  as  they  were  conversing  he  saw  the 
breast  of  the  maiden  over  the  bosom  of  her  smock, 
and  said  to  her  :  "  Fair  is  this  plain,  the  plain  of  the 
noble  yoke."  "  None  comes  to  this  plain,"  said  she,  "who 
has  not  slain  his  hundreds,  and  thy  deeds  are  still  to  do." 

So  Cuchulain  then  left  her,  and  drove  back  to  Emain 
Macha. 
1 86 


CUCHULAIN  IN  THE  LANE  OF  SKATHA 

Cuchulain  in  the  Land  of  Skatha 

Next  day  Cuchulain  bethought  hnself  how  he  could 
prepare  himself  for  war  and  for  \h  deeds  of  heroism 
which  Emer  had  demanded  of  im.  Now  he  had 
heard  of  a  mighty  woman-warrionamed  Skatha,  who 
dwelt  in  the  Land  of  Shadows,1  nd  who  could  teach 
to  young  heroes  who  came  to  he  wonderful  feats  of 
arms.  So  Cuchulain  went  oversas  to  find  her,  and 
many  dangers  he  had  to  meet,  bkk  forests  and  desert 
plains  to  traverse,  before  he  couldget  tidings  of  Skatha 
and  her  land.  At  last  he  came  to  the  Plain  of  Ill-luck, 
where  he  could  not  cross  withoat  being  mired  in  its 
bottomless  bogs  or  sticky  clar,  and  while  he  was 
debating  what  he  should  do  hi  saw  coming  towards 
him  a  young  man  with  a  face  that  shone  like  the  sun,2 
and  whose  very  look  put  cheerfulness  and  hope  into 
his  heart.  The  young  man  gave  him  a  wheel  and  told 
him  to  roll  it  before  him  on  the  plain,  and  to  follow 
it  whithersoever  it  went.  So  Cuchulain  set  the  wheel 
rolling,  and  as  it  went  it  blazed  with  light  that  shot  like 
rays  from  its  rim,  and  the  heat  of  it  made  a  firm  path 
across  the  quagmire,  where  Cuchulain  followed  safely. 

When  he  had  passed  the  Plain  of  Ill-luck,  and 
escaped  the  beasts  of  the  Perilous  Glen,  he  came  to  the 
Bridge  of  the  Leaps,  beyond  which  was  the  country  of 
Skatha.  Here  he  found  on  the  hither  side  many  sons 
of  the  princes  of  Ireland  who  were  come  to  learn  feats 
of  war  from  Skatha,  and  they  were  playing  at  hurley 
on  the  green.  And  among  them  was  his  friend  Ferdia, 
son  of  the  Firbolg,  Daman  ;  and  they  all  asked  him  of 

1  Owing  to  the  similarity  of  the  name  the  supernatural  country 
of  Skatha,  "  the  Shadowy,"  was  early  identified  with  the  islands  of 
Skye,  where  the  Cuchulain  Peaks  still  bear  witness  to  the  legend. 

2  This,  of  course,  was  Cuchulain's  father,  Lugh. 

187 


MYTHS  |)F  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  news  from  Ir&nd.  When  he  had  told  them  all 
he  asked  Ferdia  hw  he  should  pass  to  the  dun  of 
Skatha.  Now  the  Bridge  of  Leaps  was  very  narrow 
and  very  high,  ai^  it  crossed  a  gorge  where  far 
below  swung  the  ides  of  a  boiling  sea,  in  which 
ravenous  monsters  culd  be  seen  swimming. 

"  Not  one  of  ui  has  crossed  that  bridge,"  said 
Ferdia,  "for  there  jre  two  feats  that  Skatha  teaches 
last,  and  one  is  theleap  across  the  bridge,  and  the 
other  the  thrust  of  tht  Gae  Bolg.1  For  if  a  man  step 
upon  one  end  of  tha  bridge,  the  middle  straightway 
rises  up  and  flings  hin  back,  and  if  he  leap  upon  it  he 
may  chance  to  miss  hs  footing  and  fall  into  the  gulf, 
where  the  sea-monsten  are  waiting  for  him." 

But  Cuchulain  waited  till  evening,  when  he  had 
recovered  his  strength  f-om  his  long  journey,  and  then 
essayed  the  crossing  of  the  bridge.  Three  times  he 
ran  towards  it  from  a  distance,  gathering  all  his  powers 
together,  and  strove  to  leap  upon  the  middle,  but  three 
times  it  rose  against  him  and  flung  him  back,  while  his 
companions  jeered  at  him  because  he  would  not  wait 
for  the  help  of  Skatha.  But  at  the  fourth  leap  he  lit 
fairly  on  the  centre  of  the  bridge,  and  with  one  leap 
more  he  was  across  it,  and  stood  before  the  strong 
fortress  of  Skatha ;  and  she  wondered  at  his  courage 
and  vigour,  and  admitted  him  to  be  her  pupil. 

For  a  year  and  a  day  Cuchulain  abode  with  Skatha, 
and  all  the  feats  she  had  to  teach  he  learned  easily,  and 
last  of  all  she  taught  him  the  use  of  the  Gae  Bolg,  and 
gave  him  that  dreadful  weapon,  which  she  had  deemed 
no  champion  before  him  good  enough  to  have.  And 
the  manner  of  using  the  Gae  Bolg  was  that  it  was 
thrown   with  the   foot,  and  if  it  entered  an   enemy's 

1  This   means  probably  "  the   belly  spear."     With    this  terrible 
weapon  Cuchulain  was  fated  in  the  end  to  slay  his  friend  Ferdia. 
1 88 


Cuchulain  asks  Arms  of  the   Kim 


CUCHULAIN  AND  AIFA 

body  it  filled  every  limb  and  crevice  of  him  with  its 
barbs.  While  Cuchulain  dwelt  with  Skatha  his  friend 
above  all  friends  and  his  rival  in  skill  and  valour  was 
Ferdia,  and  ere  they  parted  they  vowed  to  love  and 
help  one  another  as  long  as  they  should  live. 

Cuchulain  and  Aifa 

Now  whilst  Cuchulain  was  in  the  Land  of  the  Shadows 
it  chanced  that  Skatha  made  war  on  the  people  of  the 
Princess  Aifa,  who  was  the  fiercest  and  strongest  of  the 
woman-warriors  of  the  world,  so  that  even  Skatha 
feared  to  meet  her  in  arms.  On  going  forth  to  the 
war,  therefore,  Skatha  mixed  with  Cuchulain's  drink  a 
sleepy  herb  so  that  he  should  not  wake  for  four-and- 
twenty  hours,  by  which  time  the  host  would  be  far  on 
its  way,  for  she  feared  lest  evil  should  come  to  him  ere 
he  had  got  his  full  strength.  But  the  potion  that 
would  have  served  another  man  for  a  day  and  a  night 
only  held  Cuchulain  for  one  hour ;  and  when  he  waked 
up  he  seized  his  arms  and  followed  the  host  by  its 
chariot-tracks  till  he  came  up  with  them.  Then  it  is 
said  that  Skatha  uttered  a  sigh,  for  she  knew  that  he 
would  not  be  restrained  from  the  war. 

When  the  armies  met,  Cuchulain  and  the  two  sons 
of  Skatha  wrought  great  deeds  on  the  foe,  and  slew  six 
of  the  mightiest  of  Aifa's  warriors.     Then  Aifa  sent 

o 

word  to  Skatha  and  challenged  her  to  single  combat. 
But  Cuchulain  declared  that  he  would  meet  the  fair 
Fury  in  place  of  Skatha,  and  he  asked  first  of  all  what 
were  the  things  she  most  valued.  "  What  Aifa  loves 
most,"  said  Skatha,  "are  her  two  horses,  her  chariot 
and  her  charioteer."  Then  the  pair  met  in  single 
combat,  and  every  champion's  feat  which  they  knew 
they  tried  on  each  other  in  vain,  till  at  last  a  blow  of 
Aifa's  shattered  the  sword  of  Cuchulain   to   the   hilt. 

189 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

At  this  Cuchulain  cried  out  :  "  Ah  me  !  behold  the 
chariot  and  horses  of  Aifa,  fallen  into  the  glen  !  "  Aifa 
glanced  round,  and  Cuchulain,  rushing  in,  seized  her 
round  the  waist  and  slung  her  over  his  shoulder  and 
bore  her  back  to  the  camp  of  Skatha.  There  he  flung 
her  on  the  ground  and  put  his  knife  to  her  throat. 
She  begged  for  her  life,  and  Cuchulain  granted  it  on 
condition  that  she  made  a  lasting  peace  with  Skatha, 
and  gave  hostages  for  her  fulfilment  of  the  pledge. 
To  this  she  agreed,  and  Cuchulain  and  she  became  not 
only  friends  but  lovers. 

The  Tragedy  of  Cuchulain  and  Connla 

Before  Cuchulain  left  the  Land  of  Shadows  he  gave 
Aifa  a  golden  ring,  saying  that  if  she  should  bear  him 
a  son  he  was  to  be  sent  to  seek  his  father  in  Erin  so 
soon  as  he  should  have  grown  so  that  his  finger  would 
fit  the  ring.  And  Cuchulain  said,  "  Charge  him  under 
geise  that  he  shall  not  make  himself  known,  that  he 
never  turn  out  of  the  way  for  any  man,  nor  ever 
refuse  a  combat.     And  be  his  name  called  Connla." 

In  later  years  it  is  narrated  that  one  day  when  King 
Conor  of  Ulster  and  the  lords  of  Ulster  were  at  a 
festal  gathering  on  the  Strand  of  the  Footprints  they 
saw  coming  towards  them  across  the  sea  a  little  boat  of 
bronze,  and  in  it  a  young  lad  with  gilded  oars  in  his 
hands.  In  the  boat  was  a  heap  of  stones,  and  ever  and 
anon  the  lad  would  put  one  of  these  stones  into  a  sling 
and  cast  it  at  a  flying  sea-bird  in  such  fashion  that  it 
would  bring  down  the  bird  alive  to  his  feet.  And 
many  other  wonderful  feats  of  skill  he  did.  Then 
Conor  said,  as  the  boat  drew  nearer  :  "If  the  grown 
men  of  that  lad's  country  came  here  they  would  surely 
grind  us  to  powder.  Woe  to  the  land  into  which  that 
boy  shall  come  !  " 
190 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  CUCHULAIN  AND  CONNLA 

When  the  boy  came  to  land,  a  messenger,  Condery, 
was  sent  to  bid  him  be  off.  "  I  will  not  turn  back  for 
thee,"  said  the  lad,  and  Condery  repeated  what  he  had 
said  to  the  king.  Then  Conall  of  the  Victories  was 
sent  against  him,  but  the  lad  slung  a  great  stone  at  him, 
and  the  whizz  and  wind  of  it  knocked  him  down,  and 
the  lad  sprang  upon  him,  and  bound  his  arms  with  the 
strap  of  his  shield.  And  so  man  after  man  was  served  ; 
some  were  bound,  and  some  were  slain,  but  the  lad 
defied  the  whole  power  of  Ulster  to  turn  him  back,  nor 
would  he  tell  his  name  or  lineage. 

"  Send  for  Cuchulain,"  then  said  King  Conor.  And 
they  sent  a  messenger  to  Dundalk,  where  Cuchulain 
was  with  Emer  his  wife,  and  bade  him  come  to  do 
battle  against  a  stranger  boy  whom  Conall  of  the 
Victories  could  not  overcome.  Emer  threw  her  arm 
round  Cuchulain's  neck.  "  Do  not  go,"  she  entreated. 
"  Surely  this  is  the  son  of  Aifa.  Slay  not  thine  only 
son."  But  Cuchulain  said  :  "  Forbear,  woman  !  Were 
it  Connla  himself  I  would  slay  him  for  the  honour  of 
Ulster,"  and  he  bade  yoke  his  chariot  and  went  to  the 
Strand.  Here  he  found  the  boy  tossing  up  his  weapons 
and  doing  marvellous  feats  with  them.  "  Delightful 
is  thy  play,  boy,"  said  Cuchulain  ;  "who  art  thou  and 
whence  dost  thou  come?"  "I  may  not  reveal  that," 
said  the  lad.  "Then  thou  shalt  die,"  said  Cuchulain. 
"  So  be  it,"  said  the  lad,  and  then  they  fought  with 
swords  for  a  while,  till  the  lad  delicately  shore  off  a 
lock  of  Cuchulain's  hair.  "  Enough  of  trifling,"  said 
Cuchulain,  and  they  closed  with  each  other,  but  the 
lad  planted  himself  on  a  rock  and  stood  so  firm  that 
Cuchulain  could  not  move  him,  and  in  the  stubborn 
wrestling  they  had  the  lad's  two  feet  sank  deep  into 
the  stone  and  made  the  footprints  whence  the  Strand 
of  the  Footprints  has  its  name.     At  last  they  both  fell 

191 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

into  the  sea,  and  Cuchulain  was  near  being  drowned,  till 
he  bethought  himself  of  the  Gae  Bolg,  and  he  drove 
that  weapon  against  the  lad  and  it  ripped  up  his  belly. 
"  That  is  what  Skatha  never  taught  me,"  cried  the  lad. 
"  Woe  is  me,  for  I  am  hurt."  Cuchulain  looked  at  him 
and  saw  the  ring  on  his  finger.  "  It  is  true,"  he  said ; 
and  he  took  up  the  boy  and  bore  him  on  shore  and 
laid  him  down  before  Conor  and  the  lords  of  Ulster. 
"  Here  is  my  son  for  you,  men  of  Ulster,"  he  said. 
And  the  boy  said  :  "  It  is  true.  And  if  I  had  five  years 
to  grow  among  you,  you  would  conquer  the  world  on 
every  side  of  you  and  rule  as  far  as  Rome.  But  since 
it  is  as  it  is,  point  out  to  me  the  famous  warriors  that 
are  here,  that  I  may  know  them  and  take  leave  of  them 
before  I  die."  Then  one  after  another  they  were  brought 
to  him,  and  he  kissed  them  and  took  leave  of  his  father, 
and  he  died ;  and  the  men  of  Ulster  made  his  grave  and 
set  up  his  pillar-stone  with  great  mourning.  This  was 
the  only  son  Cuchulain  ever  had,  and  this  son  he  slew. 

This  tale,  as  I  have  given  it  here,  dates  from  the  ninth 
century,  and  is  found  in  the  "  Yellow  Book  of  Lecan." 
There  are  many  other  Gaelic  versions  of  it  in  poetry 
and  prose.  It  is  one  of  the  earliest  extant  appearances 
in  literature  of  the  since  well-known  theme  of  the 
slaying  of  a  heroic  son  by  his  father.  The  Persian 
rendering  of  it  in  the  tale  of  Sohrab  and  Rustum  has 
been  made  familiar  by  Matthew  Arnold's  fine  poem. 
In  the  Irish  version  it  will  be  noted  that  the  father  is 
not  without  a  suspicion  of  the  identity  of  his  antagonist, 
but  he  does  battle  with  him  under  the  stimulus  of  that 
passionate  sense  of  loyalty  to  his  prince  and  province 
which  was  Cuchulain's  most  signal  characteristic. 

To  complete  the  story  of  Aifa  and  her  son  we  have 
anticipated  events,  and  now  turn  back  to  take  up  the 
thread  again. 
192 


CUCHULAIN'S  FIRST  FORAY 

Cuchulain's  First  Foray- 
After  a  year  and  a  day  of  training  in  warfare  under 
Skatha,  Cuchulain  returned  to  Erin,  eager  to  test  his 
prowess  and  to  win  Emer  for  his  wife.  So  he  bade 
harness  his  chariot  and  drove  out  to  make  a  foray  upon 
the  fords  and  marches  of  Connacht,  for  between  Con- 
nacht  and  Ulster  there  was  always  an  angry  surf  of 
fighting  along  the  borders. 

And  first  he  drove  to  the  White  Cairn,  which  is  on 
the  highest  of  the  Mountains  of  Mourne,  and  surveyed 
the  land  of  Ulster  spread  out  smiling  in  the  sunshine 
far  below  and  bade  his  charioteer  tell  him  the  name 
of  every  hill  and  plain  and  dun  that  he  saw.  Then 
turning  southwards  he  looked  over  the  plains  of  Bregia, 
and  the  charioteer  pointed  out  to  him  Tara  and  Teltin, 
and  Brugh  na  Boyna  and  the  great  dun  of  the  sons  of 
Nechtan.  "Are  they,"  asked  Cuchulain,  "those  sons 
of  Nechtan  of  whom  it  is  said  that  more  of  the  men  of 
Ulster  have  fallen  by  their  hands  than  are  yet  living 
on  the  earth?"  "The  same,"  said  the  charioteer. 
"Then  let  us  drive  thither,"  said  Cuchulain.  So, 
much  unwilling,  the  charioteer  drove  to  the  fortress  of 
the  sons  of  Nechtan,  and  there  on  the  green  before  it 
they  found  a  pillar-stone,  and  round  it  a  collar  of 
bronze  having  on  it  writing  in  Ogham.  This  Cuchulain 
read,  and  it  declared  that  any  man  of  age  to  bear  arms 
who  should  come  to  that  green  should  hold  it  gets  for 
him  to  depart  without  having  challenged  one  of  the 
dwellers  in  the  dun  to  single  combat.  Then  Cuchulain 
flung  his  arms  round  the  stone,  and,  swaying  it  back- 
wards and  forwards,  heaved  it  at  last  out  of  the  earth 
and  flung  it,  collar  and  all,  into  the  river  that  ran  hard 
by.  "  Surely,"  said  the  charioteer,  "  thou  art  seeking  for 
a  violent  death,  and  now  thou  wilt  find  it  without  delay." 

n  193 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Then  Foill  son  of  Nechtan  came  forth  from  the 
dun,  and  seeing  Cuchulain,  whom  he  deemed  but  a  lad, 
he  was  annoyed.  But  Cuchulain  bade  him  fetch  his 
arms,  "for  I  slay  not  drivers  nor  messengers  nor 
unarmed  men,"  and  Foill  went  back  into  the  dun. 
"  Thou  canst  not  slay  him,"  then  said  the  charioteer, 
"  for  he  is  invulnerable  by  magic  power  to  the  point  or 
edge  of  any  blade."  But  Cuchulain  put  in  his  sling  a 
ball  of  tempered  iron,  and  when  Foill  appeared  he 
slung  at  him  so  that  it  struck  his  forehead,  and  went 
clean  through  brain  and  skull ;  and  Cuchulain  took  his 
head  and  bound  it  to  his  chariot-rim.  And  other  sons 
of  Nechtan,  issuing  forth,  he  fought  with  and  slew  by 
sword  or  spear  ;  and  then  he  fired  the  dun  and  left  it 
in  a  blaze  and  drove  on  exultant.  And  on  the  way  he 
saw  a  flock  of  wild  swans,  and  sixteen  of  them  he 
brought  down  alive  with  his  sling,  and  tied  them  to 
the  chariot ;  and  seeing  a  herd  of  wild  deer  which  his 
horses  could  not  overtake  he  lighted  down  and  chased 
them  on  foot  till  he  caught  two  great  stags,  and  with 
thongs  and  ropes  he  made  them  fast  to  the  chariot. 

But  at  Emain  Macha  a  scout  of  King  Conor  came 
running  in  to  give  him  news.  "  Behold,  a  solitary 
chariot  is  approaching  swiftly  over  the  plain  ;  wild 
white  birds  flutter  round  it  and  wild  stags  are  tethered 
to  it ;  it  is  decked  all  round  with  the  bleeding  heads  of 
enemies."  And  Conor  looked  to  see  who  was  approach- 
ing, and  he  saw  that  Cuchulain  was  in  his  battle-fury, 
and  would  deal  death  around  him  whomsoever  he  met ; 
so  he  hastily  gave  order  that  a  troop  of  the  women  of 
Emania  should  go  forth  to  meet  him,  and,  having 
stripped  off  their  clothing,  should  stand  naked  in  the 
way.  This  they  did,  and  when  the  lad  saw  them, 
smitten  with  shame,  he  bowed  his  head  upon  the 
chariot-rim.  Then  Conor's  men  instantly  seized  him 
194 


CUCHULAIN  CHAMPION  OF  ERIN 

and  plunged  him  into  a  vat  of  cold  water  which  had 
been  made  ready,  but  the  water  boiled  around  him  and 
the  staves  and  hoops  of  the  vat  were  burst  asunder. 
This  they  did  again  and  yet  again,  and  at  last  his  fury 
left  him,  and  his  natural  form  and  aspect  were  restored. 
Then  they  clad  him  in  fresh  raiment  and  bade  him  in 
to  the  feast  in  the  king's  banqueting-hall. 

The  Winning  of  Emer 

Next  day  he  went  to  the  dun  of  Forgall  the  Wily, 
father  of  Emer,  and  he  leaped  "  the  hero's  salmon  leap," 
that  he  had  learned  of  Skatha,  over  the  high  ramparts 
of  the  dan.  Then  the  mighty  men  of  Forgall  set  on 
him,  and  he  dealt  but  three  blows,  and  each  blow  slew 
eight  men,  and  Forgall  himself  fell  lifeless  in  leaping 
from  the  rampart  of  the  dun  to  escape  Cuchulain. 
So  he  carried  off  Emer  and  her  foster-sister  and  two 
loads  of  gold  and  silver.  But  outside  the  dun  the 
sister  of  Forgall  raised  a  host  against  him,  and  his 
battle-fury  came  on  him,  and  furious  were  the  blows  he 
dealt,  so  that  the  ford  of  Glondath  ran  blood  and  the 
turf  on  Crofot  was  trampled  into  bloody  mire.  A 
hundred  he  slew  at  every  ford  from  Olbiny  to  the 
Boyne  ;  and  so  was  Emer  won  as  she  desired,  and  he 
brought  her  to  Emain  Macha  and  made  her  his  wife, 
and  they  were  not  parted  again  until  he  died. 

Cuchulain  Champion  of  Erin 

A  lord  of  Ulster  named  Briccriu  of  the  Poisoned 
Tongue  once  made  a  feast  to  which  he  bade  King 
Conor  and  all  the  heroes  of  the  Red  Branch,  and 
because  it  was  always  his  delight  to  stir  up  strife  among 
men  or  women  he  set  the  heroes  contending  among 
themselves  as  to  who  was  the  champion  of  the  land  of 
Erin.     At    last    it   was  agreed  that    the  championship 

i95 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

must  lie  among  three  of  them,  namely,  Cuchulain, 
and  Conall  of  the  Victories  and  Laery  the  Triumphant. 
To  decide  between  these  three  a  demon  named  The 
Terrible  was  summoned  from  a  lake  in  the  depth  of 
which  he  dwelt.  He  proposed  to  the  heroes  a  test  ot 
courage.  Any  one  of  them,  he  said,  might  cut  off  his 
head  to-day  provided  that  he,  the  claimant  of  the 
championship,  would  lay  down  his  own  head  for  the 
axe  to-morrow.  Conall  and  Laery  shrank  from  the 
test,  but  Cuchulain  accepted  it,  and  after  reciting  a 
charm  over  his  sword,  he  cut  off  the  head  of  the  demon, 
who  immediately  rose,  and  taking  the  bleeding  head  in 
one  hand  and  his  axe  in  the  other,  plunged  into  the 
lake. 

Next  day  he  reappeared,  whole  and  sound,  to  claim 
the  fulfilment  of  the  bargain.  Cuchulain,  quailing  but 
resolute,  laid  his  head  on  the  block.  "  Stretch  out 
your  neck,  wretch,"  cried  the  demon  ;  "  'tis  too  short 
for  me  to  strike  at."  Cuchulain  does  as  he  is  bidden. 
The  demon  swings  his  axe  thrice  over  his  victim, 
brings  down  the  butt  with  a  crash  on  the  block,  and 
then  bids  Cuchulain  rise  unhurt,  Champion  of  Ireland 
and  her  boldest  man. 

Deirdre  and  the  Sons  of  Usna 

We  have  now  to  turn  to  a  story  in  which  Cuchulain 
takes  no  part.  It  is  the  chief  of  the  preliminary  tales 
to  the  Cattle-spoil  of  Quelgny. 

There  was  among  the  lords  of  Ulster,  it  is  said, 
one  named  Felim  son  of  Dall,  who  on  a  certain  day 
made  a  great  feast  for  the  king.  And  the  king  came 
with  his  Druid  Cathbad,  and  Fergus  mac  Roy,  and 
many  heroes  of  the  Red  Branch,  and  while  they  were 
making  merry  over  the  roasted  flesh  and  wheaten  cakes 
and  Greek  wine  a  messenger  from  the  women's  apart- 
196 


Cathbad  gazed  upon  the  stars  and  he  was  much  troubled"     196 


DEIRDRE  AND  THE  SONS  OF  USNA 

ments  came  to  tell  Felim  that  his  wife  had  just  borne 
him  a  daughter.  So  all  the  lords  and  warriors  drank 
health  to  the  new-born  infant,  and  the  king  bade  Cath- 
bade  perform  divination  in  the  manner  of  the  Druids 
and  foretell  what  the  future  would  have  in  store  for 
Felim's  babe.  Cathbad  gazed  upon  the  stars  and  drew 
the  horoscope  of  the  child,  and  he  was  much  troubled  ; 
and  at  length  he  said  :  "  The  infant  shall  be  fairest 
among  the  women  of  Erin,  and  shall  wed  a  king,  but 
because  of  her  shall  death  and  ruin  come  upon  the 
Province  of  Ulster."  Then  the  warriors  would  have 
put  her  to  death  upon  the  spot,  but  Conor  forbade 
them.  "  I  will  avert  the  doom,"  he  said,  "  for  she 
shall  wed  no  foreign  king,  but  she  shall  be  my  own 
mate  when  she  is  of  age."  So  he  took  away  the  child, 
and  committed  it  to  his  nurse  Levarcam,  and  the  name 
they  gave  it  was  Deirdre.  And  Conor  charged  Levar- 
cam that  the  child  should  be  brought  up  in  a  strong 
dun  in  the  solitude  of  a  great  wood,  and  that  no  young 
man  should  see  her  or  she  him  until  she  was  of 
marriageable  age  for  the  king  to  wed.  And  there  she 
dwelt,  seeing  none  but  her  nurse  and  Cathbad,  and 
sometimes  the  king,  now  growing  an  aged  man,  who 
would  visit  the  dun  from  time  to  time  to  see  that  all 
was  well  with  the  folk  there,  and  that  his  commands 
were  observed. 

One  day,  when  the  time  for  the  marriage  of  Deirdre 
and  Conor  was  drawing  near,  Deirdre  and  Levarcam 
looked  over  the  rampart  of  their  dun.  It  was  winter, 
a  heavy  snow  had  fallen  in  the  night,  and  in  the  still, 
frosty  air  the  trees  stood  up  as  if  wrought  in  silver, 
and  the  green  before  the  dun  was  a  sheet  of  unbroken 
white,  save  that  in  one  place  a  scullion  had  killed  a  calf 
for  their  dinner,  and  the  blood  of  the  calf  lay  on  the 
snow.     And  as  Deirdre  looked,  a  raven  lit  down  from 

197 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

a  tree  hard  by  and  began  to  sip  the  blood.  "O  nurse," 
cried  Deirdre  suddenly,  "  such,  and  not  like  Conor, 
would  be  the  man  that  I  would  love — his  hair  like  the 
raven's  wing,  and  in  his  cheek  the  hue  of  blood,  and 
his  skin  as  white  as  snow."  "Thou  hast  pictured  a 
man  of  Conor's  household,"  said  the  nurse.  "Who  is 
he  ?  "  asked  Deirdre.  "  He  is  Naisi,  son  of  Usna,1  a 
champion  of  the  Red  Branch,"  said  the  nurse.  There- 
upon Deirdre  entreated  Levarcam  to  bring  her  to  speak 
with  Naisi ;  and  because  the  old  woman  loved  the  girl 
and  would  not  have  her  wedded  to  the  aged  king,  she 
at  last  agreed.  Deirdre  implored  Naisi  to  save  her 
from  Conor,  but  he  would  not,  till  at  last  her  entreaties 
and  her  beauty  won  him,  and  he  vowed  to  be  hers. 
Then  secretly  one  night  he  came  with  his  two  brethren, 
Ardan  and  Ainle,  and  bore  away  Deirdre  with  Levarcam, 
and  they  escaped  the  king's  pursuit  and  took  ship  for 
Scotland,  where  Naisi  took  service  with  the  King  of 
the  Picts.  Yet  here  they  could  not  rest,  for  the  king 
got  sight  of  Deirdre,  and  would  have  taken  her  from 
Naisi,  but  Naisi  with  his  brothers  escaped,  and  in  the 
solitude  of  Glen  Etive  they  made  their  dwelling  by  the 
lake,  and  there  lived  in  the  wild  wood  by  hunting 
and  fishing,  seeing  no  man  but  themselves  and  their 
servants. 

And  the  years  went  by  and  Conor  made  no  sign, 
but  he  did  not  forget,  and  his  spies  told  him  of  all  that 
befell  Naisi  and  Deirdre.  At  last,  judging  that  Naisi 
and  his  brothers  would  have  tired  of  solitude,  he  sent 
the  bosom  friend  of  Naisi,  Fergus  son  of  Roy,  to  bid 
them  return,  and  to  promise  them  that  all  would  be 
forgiven.  Fergus  went  joyfully,  and  joyfully  did  Naisi 
and  his  brothers  hear  the  message,  but  Deirdre  foresaw 
evil,   and  would  fain    have  sent   Fergus    home   alone. 

1  See  genealogical  table,  p.  181. 
198 


DEIRDRE  AND  THE  SONS  OF  USNA 
But  Naisi  blamed  her  for  her  doubt  and  suspicion,  and 
bade  her  mark  that  they  were  under  the  protection  of 
Fergus,  whose    safeguard    no   king    in    Ireland  would 
dare  to  violate  ;  and  they  at  last  made  ready  to  go. 

On  landing  in  Ireland  they  were  met  by  Baruch,  a 
lord  of  the  Red  Branch,  who  had  his  dun  close  by, 
and  he  bade  Fergus  to  a  feast  he  had  prepared  for  him 
that  night.  "  I  may  not  stay,"  said  Fergus,  "  for  I 
must  first  convey  Deirdre  and  the  sons  of  Usna  safely 
to  Emain  Macha."  "  Nevertheless,"  said  Baruch, 
"  thou  must  stay  with  me  to-night,  for  it  is  a  gets  for 
thee  to  refuse  a  feast."  Deirdre  implored  him  not 
to  leave  them,  but  Fergus  was  tempted  by  the  feast, 
and  feared  to  break  his  geis,  and  he  bade  his  two  sons 
Ulan  the  Fair  and  Buino  the  Red  take  charge  of  the 
party  in  his  place,  and  he  himself  abode  with  Baruch. 

And  so  the  party  came  to  Emain  Macha,  and  they 
were  lodged  in  the  House  of  the  Red  Branch,  but 
Conor  did  not  receive  them.  After  the  evening  meal, 
as  he  sat,  drinking  heavily  and  silently,  he  sent  a 
messenger  to  bid  Levarcam  come  before  him.  "  How 
is  it  with  the  sons  of  Usna  ?  "  he  said  to  her.  "  It  is 
well,"  she  said.  "  Thou  hast  got  the  three  most  valorous 
champions  in  Ulster  in  thy  court.  Truly  the  king  who 
has  those  three  need  fear  no  enemy."  "Is  it  well  with 
Deirdre?"  he  asked.  "She  is  well,"  said  the  nurse, 
"but  she  has  lived  many  years  in  the  wildwood,  and 
toil  and  care  have  changed  her — little  of  her  beauty  of 
old  now  remains  to  her,  O  King."  Then  the  king 
dismissed  her,  and  sat  drinking  again.  But  after  a 
while  he  called  to  him  a  servant  named  Trendorn,  and 
bade  him  go  to  the  Red  Branch  House  and  mark  who 
was  there  and  what  they  did.  But  when  Trendorn 
came  the  place  was  bolted  and  barred  for  the  night, 
and    he  could    not    get    an    entrance,   and    at    last    he 

199 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

mounted  on  a  ladder  and  looked  in  at  a  high  window. 
And  there  he  saw  the  brothers  of  Naisi  and  the  sons  of 
Fergus,  as  they  talked  or  cleaned  their  arms,  or  made 
them  ready  for  slumber,  and  there  sat  Naisi  with  a 
chess-board  before  him,  and  playing  chess  with  him 
was  the  fairest  of  women  that  he  had  ever  seen.  But 
as  he  looked  in  wonder  at  the  noble  pair,  suddenly  one 
caught  sight  of  him  and  rose  with  a  cry,  pointing  to 
the  face  at  the  window.  And  Naisi  looked  up  and 
saw  it,  and  seizing  a  chessman  from  the  board  he 
hurled  it  at  the  face  of  the  spy,  and  it  struck  out  his 
eye.  Then  Trendorn  hastily  descended,  and  went  back 
with  his  bloody  face  to  the  king.  "  I  have  seen  them," 
he  cried,  "  I  have  seen  the  fairest  woman  of  the  world, 
and  but  that  Naisi  had  struck  my  eye  out  I  had  been 
looking  on  her  still." 

Then  Conor  arose  and  called  for  his  guards  and  bade 
them  bring  the  sons  of  Usna  before  him  for  maiming 
his  messenger.  And  the  guards  went ;  but  first  Buino, 
son  of  Fergus,  with  his  retinue,  met  them,  and  at  the 
sword's  point  drove  them  back  ;  but  Naisi  and  Deirdre 
continued  quietly  to  play  chess,  "  For,"  said  Naisi,  "  it 
is  not  seemly  that  we  should  seek  to  defend  ourselves 
while  we  are  under  the  protection  of  the  sons  of  Fergus." 
But  Conor  went  to  Buino,  and  with  a  great  gift  of  lands 
he  bought  him  over  to  desert  his  charge.  Then  Ulan 
took  up  the  defence  of  the  Red  Branch  Hostel,  but  the 
two  sons  of  Conor  slew  him.  And  then  at  last  Naisi 
and  his  brothers  seized  their  weapons  and  rushed  amid 
the  foe,  and  many  were  they  who  fell  before  the  onset. 
Then  Conor  entreated  Cathbad  the  Druid  to  cast  spells 
upon  them  lest  they  should  get  away  and  become  the 
enemies  of  the  province,  and  he  vowed  to  do  them  no 
hurt  if  they  were  taken  alive.  So  Cathbad  conjured 
up,  as  it  were,  a  lake  of  slime  that  seemed  to  be  about 
200 


THE  REBELLION  OF  FERGUS 

the  feet  of  the  sons  of  Usna,  and  they  could  not  tear 
their  feet  from  it,  and  Naisi  caught  up  Deirdre  and  put 
her  on  his  shoulder,  for  they  seemed  to  be  sinking  in 
the  slime.  Then  the  guards  and  servants  of  Conor 
seized  and  bound  them  and  brought  them  before  the 
king.  And  the  king  called  upon  man  after  man  to 
come  forward  and  slay  the  sons  of  Usna,  but  none 
would  obey  him,  till  at  last  Owen  son  of  Duracht  and 
Prince  of  Ferney  came  and  took  the  sword  of  Naisi, 
and  with  one  sweep  he  shore  off  the  heads  of  all  three, 
and  so  they  died. 

Then  Conor  took  Deirdre  perforce,  and  for  a  year 
she  abode  with  him  in  the  palace  in  Emain  Macha,  but 
during  all  that  time  she  never  smiled.  At  length 
Conor  said  :  u  What  is  it  that  you  hate  most  of  all  on 
earth,  Deirdre  ?  "  And  she  said  :  "  Thou  thyself  and 
Owen  son  of  Duracht,"  and  Owen  was  standing  by. 
"  Then  thou  shalt  go  to  Owen  for  a  year,"  said  Conor. 
But  when  Deirdre  mounted  the  chariot  behind  Owen 
she  kept  her  eyes  on  the  ground,  for  she  would  not 
look  on  those  who  thus  tormented  her  ;  and  Conor 
said,  taunting  her  :  "  Deirdre,  the  glance  of  thee  between 
me  and  Owen  is  the  glance  of  a  ewe  between  two 
rams."  Then  Deirdre  started  up,  and,  flinging  herself 
head  foremost  from  the  chariot,  she  dashed  her  head 
against  a  rock  and  fell  dead. 

And  when  they  buried  her  it  is  said  there  grew  from 
her  grave  and  from  Naisi's  two  yew-trees,  whose  tops, 
when  they  were  full-grown,  met  each  other  over  the 
roof  of  the  great  church  of  Armagh,  and  intertwined 
together,  and  none  could  part  them. 

The  Rebellion  of  Fergus 

When  Fergus  mac  Roy  came  home  to  Emain  Macha 
after  the  feast  to  which  Baruch  bade  him  and  found 

20 1 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  sons  of  Usna  slain  and  one  of  his  own  sons  dead 
and  the  other  a  traitor,  he  broke  out  against  Conor  in 
a  storm  of  wrath  and  cursing,  and  vowed  to  be  avenged 
on  him  with  fire  and  sword.  And  he  went  ofF 
straightway  to  Connacht  to  take  service  of  arms  with 
Ailell  and  Maev,  who  were  king  and  queen  of  that 
country. 

Queen  Maev 

But  though  Ailell  was  king,  Maev  was  the  ruler  in 
truth,  and  ordered  all  things  as  she  wished,  and  took 
what  husbands  she  wished,  and  dismissed  them  at 
pleasure  ;  for  she  was  as  fierce  and  strong  as  a  goddess 
of  war,  and  knew  no  law  but  her  own  wild  will.  She 
was  tall,  it  is  said,  with  a  long,  pale  face  and  masses  of 
hair  yellow  as  ripe  corn.  When  Fergus  came  to  her 
in  her  palace  at  Rathcroghan  in  Roscommon  she  gave 
him  her  love,  as  she  had  given  it  to  many  before,  and 
they  plotted  together  how  to  attack  and  devastate  the 
Province  of  Ulster. 

The  Brown  Bull  of  Quelgny 

Now  it  happened  that  Maev  possessed  a  famous  red 
bull  with  white  front  and  horns  named  Finnbenach, 
and  one  day  when  she  and  Ailell  were  counting  up 
their  respective  possessions  and  matching  them  against 
each  other  he  taunted  her  because  the  Finnbenach 
would  not  stay  in  the  hands  of  a  woman,  but  had 
attached  himself  to  Ailell's  herd.  So  Maev  in  vexation 
went  to  her  steward,  mac  Roth,  and  asked  of  him  if 
there  were  anywhere  in  Erin  a  bull  as  fine  as  the 
Finnbenach.  "Truly,"  said  the  steward,  "  there  is — 
for  the  Brown  Bull  of  Quelgny,  that  belongs  to  Dara 
son  of  Fachtna,  is  the  mightiest  beast  that  is  in  Ireland." 
And  after  that  Maev  felt  as  if  she  had  no  flocks  and 

202 


THE  BROWN  BULL  OF  QUELGNY 

herds  that  were  worth  anything  at  all  unless  she 
possessed  the  Brown  Bull  of  Quelgny.  But  this  was 
in  Ulster,  and  the  Ulstermen  knew  the  treasure  they 
possessed,  and  Maev  knew  that  they  would  not  give 
up  the  bull  without  fighting  for  it.  So  she  and  Fergus 
and  Ailell  agreed  to  make  a  foray  against  Ulster  for 
the  Brown  Bull,  and  thus  to  enter  into  war  with  the 
province,  for  Fergus  longed  for  vengeance,  and  Maev 
for  fighting,  for  glory,  and  for  the  bull,  and  Ailell  to 
satisfy  Maev. 

Here  let  us  note  that  this  contest  for  the  bull,  which 
is  the  ostensible  theme  of  the  greatest  of  Celtic  legendary 
tales,  the  "Tain  Bo  Cuailgne,"  has  a  deeper  meaning  than 
appears  on  the  surface.  An  ancient  piece  of  Aryan 
mythology  is  embedded  in  it.  The  Brown  Bull  is  the 
Celtic  counterpart  of  the  Hindu  sky-deity,  Indra,  repre- 
sented in  Hindu  myth  as  a  mighty  bull,  whose  roar- 
ing is  the  thunder  and  who  lets  loose  the  rains  "  like 
cows  streaming  forth  to  pasture."  The  advance  of  the 
Western  (Connacht)  host  for  the  capture  of  this  bull  is 
emblematic  of  the  onset  of  Night.  The  bull  is  defended 
by  the  solar  hero  Cuchulain,  who,  however,  is  ultimately 
overthrown  and  the  bull  is  captured  for  a  season.  The 
two  animals  in  the  Celtic  legend  probably  typify  the  sky 
in  different  aspects.  They  are  described  with  a  pomp 
and  circumstance  which  shows  that  they  are  no  com- 
mon beasts.  Once,  we  are  told,  they  were  swineherds 
of  the  people  of  Dana.  "  They  had  been  successively 
transformed  into  two  ravens,  two  sea-monsters,  two 
warriors,  two  demons,  two  worms  or  animalculae,  and 
finally  into  two  kine."1  The  Brown  Bull  is  described 
as  having  a  back  broad  enough  for  fifty  children  to  play 
on  ;  when  he  is  angry  with  his  keeper  he  stamps  the 

1  Miss  Hull,  "The  Cuchullin  Saga,"  p.  lxxii,  where  the  solar 
theory  of  the  Brown  Bull  is  dealt  with  at  length. 

203 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

man  thirty  feet  into  the  ground ;  he  is  likened  to  a 
sea  wave,  to  a  bear,  to  a  dragon,  a  lion,  the  writer 
heaping  up  images  of  strength  and  savagery.  We  are 
therefore  concerned  with  no  ordinary  cattle-raid,  but 
with  a  myth,  the  features  of  which  are  discernible  under 
the  dressing  given  it  by  the  fervid  imagination  of  the 
unknown  Celtic  bard  who  composed  the  "  Tain," 
although  the  exact  meaning  of  every  detail  may  be 
difficult  to  ascertain. 

The  first  attempt  of  Maev  to  get  possession  of  the 
bull  was  to  send  an  embassy  to  Dara  to  ask  for  the 
loan  of  him  for  a  year,  the  recompense  offered  being 
fifty  heifers,  besides  the  bull  himself  back,  and  if  Dara 
chose  to  settle  in  Connacht  he  should  have  as  much 
land  there  as  he  now  possessed  in  Ulster,  and  a  chariot 
worth  thrice  seven  cumals,1  with  the  patronage  and 
friendship  of  Maev. 

Dara  was  at  first  delighted  with  the  prospect,  but 
tales  were  borne  to  him  of  the  chatter  of  Maev's 
messengers,  and  how  they  said  that  if  the  bull  was  not 
yielded  willingly  it  would  be  taken  by  force  ;  and  he 
sent  back  a  message  of  refusal  and  defiance.  "  'Twas 
known,"  said  Maev,  "the  bull  will  not  be  yielded  by 
fair  means  ;  he  shall  now  be  won  by  foul."  And  so 
she  sent  messengers  around  on  every  side  to  summon 
her  hosts  for  the  Raid. 

The  Hosting  of  Queen  Maev 

And  there  came  all  the  mighty  men  of  Connacht — 
first  the  seven  Maines,  sons  of  Ailell  and  Maev,  each 
with  his  retinue  ;  and  Ket  and  Anluan,  sons  of  Maga, 
with  thirty  hundreds  of  armed  men  ;  and  yellow-haired 
Ferdia,  with  his  company  of  Firbolgs,  boisterous  giants 

1  A  cumal  was  the  unit  of  value  in  Celtic  Ireland.    It  is  mentioned 
as  such  by  St.  Patrick.     It  meant  the  price  of  a  woman-slave, 
204. 


Queen   Maev    and  the   Druid 


204 


PROPHETIC  VOICES 

who  delighted  in  war  and  in  strong  ale.  And  there 
came  also  the  allies  of  Maev — a  host  of  the  men  of 
Leinster,  who  so  excelled  the  rest  in  warlike  skill  that 
they  were  broken  up  and  distributed  among  the 
companies  of  Connacht,  lest  they  should  prove  a 
danger  to  the  host  ;  and  Cormac  son  of  Conor,  with 
Fergus  mac  Roy  and  other  exiles  from  Ulster,  who 
had  revolted  against  Conor  for  his  treachery  to  the 
sons  of  Usna. 

Ulster  under  the  Curse 

But  before  the  host  set  forth  towards  Ulster  Maev 
sent  her  spies  into  the  land  to  tell  her  of  the  prepara- 
tions there  being  made.  And  the  spies  brought  back 
a  wondrous  tale,  and  one  that  rejoiced  the  heart  of 
Maev,  for  they  said  that  the  Debility  of  the  Ultonians 1 
had  descended  on  the  province.  Conor  the  king  lay 
in  pangs  at  Emain  Macha,  and  his  son  Cuscrid  in  his 
island-fortress,  and  Owen  Prince  of  Ferney  was  helpless 
as  a  child  ;  Celtchar,  the  huge  grey  warrior,  son  of 
Uthecar  Hornskin,  and  even  Conall  of  the  Victories, 
lay  moaning  and  writhing  on  their  beds,  and  there  was 
no  hand  in  Ulster  that  could  lift  a  spear. 

Prophetic  Voices 

Nevertheless  Maev  went  to  her  chief  Druid,  and 
demanded  of  him  what  her  own  lot  in  the  war  should 
be.  And  the  Druid  said  only  :  "  Whoever  comes  back 
in  safety,  or  comes  not,  thou  thyself  shalt  come."  But 
on  her  journey  back  she  saw  suddenly  standing  before 
her  chariot-pole  a  young  maiden  with  tresses  of  yellow 
hair  that  fell  below  her  knees,  and  clad  in  a  mantle  of 
green  ;  and  with  a  shuttle  of  gold  she  wove  a  fabric 
upon  a  loom.     "  Who  art  thou,  girl  ? "    said   Maev, 

1  The  curse  laid  on  them  by  Macha.     See  p.  180. 

205 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

"  and  what  dost  thou  ?  "  "  I  am  the  prophetess, 
Fedelma,  from  the  Fairy  Mound  of  Croghan,"  said 
the  maid,  "  and  I  weave  the  four  provinces  of  Ireland 
together  for  the  foray  into  Ulster."  "  How  seest  thou 
our  host  ?  "  asked  Maev.  "  I  see  them  all  be-crimsoned, 
red,"  replied  the  prophetess.  "Yet  the  Ulster  heroes 
are  all  in  their  pangs — there  is  none  that  can  lift  a 
spear  against  us,"  said  Maev.  "  I  see  the  host  all  be- 
crimsoned,"  said  Fedelma.  "  I  see  a  man  of  small 
stature,  but  the  hero's  light  is  on  his  brow — a  stripling 
young  and  modest,  but  in  battle  a  dragon  ;  he  is  like 
unto  Cuchulain  of  Murthemney  ;  he  doth  wondrous 
feats  with  his  weapons  ;  by  him  your  slain  shall  lie 
thickly."  x 

At  this  the  vision  of  the  weaving  maiden  vanished, 
and  Maev  drove  homewards  to  Rathcroghan  wondering 
at  what  she  had  seen  and  heard. 

Cuchulain  Puts  the  Host  under  Geise 

On  the  morrow  the  host  set  forth,  Fergus  mac  Roy 
leading  them,  and  as  they  neared  the  confines  of 
Ulster  he  bade  them  keep  sharp  watch  lest  Cuchulain 
of  Murthemney,  who  guarded  the  passes  of  Ulster  to 
the  south,  should  fall  upon  them  unawares.  Now 
Cuchulain  and  his  father  Sualtam  2  were  on  the  borders 
of  the  province,  and  Cuchulain,  from  a  warning  Fergus 
had  sent  him,  suspected  the  approach  of  a  great  host, 
and  bade  Sualtam  go  northwards  to  Emania  and  warn 
the  men  of  Ulster.  But  Cuchulain  himself  would  not 
stay  there,  for  he  said  he  had  a  tryst  to  keep  with  a 
handmaid  of  the  wife  of  Laery  the  bodach  (farmer),  so 
he  went  into  the  forest,  and  there,  standing  on  one  leg, 

1  Cuchulain,  as  the  son  of  the  god  Lugh,  was  not  subject  to  the 
curse  of  Macha  which  afflicted  the  other  Ultonians. 

2  His  reputed  father,  the  mortal  husband  of  Dectera. 
206 


THE  FORD  OF  THE  FORKED  POLE 

and  using  only  one  hand  and  one  eye,  he  cut  an  oak 
sapling  and  twisted  it  into  a  circular  withe.  On  this 
he  cut  in  Ogham  characters  how  the  withe  was  made, 
and  he  put  the  host  of  Maev  under  geise  not  to  pass 
by  that  place  till  one  of  them  had,  under  similar  con- 
ditions, made  a  similar  withe  ;  "and  I  except  my  friend 
Fergus  mac  Roy,"  he  added,  and  wrote  his  name  at 
the  end.  Then  he  placed  the  withe  round  the  pillar- 
stone  of  Ardcullin,  and  went  his  way  to  keep  his  tryst 
with  the  handmaid.1 

When  the  host  of  Maev  came  to  Ardcullin,  the  withe 
upon  the  pillar-stone  was  found  and  brought  to  Fergus 
to  decipher  it.  There  was  none  amongst  the  host  who 
could  emulate  the  feat  of  Cuchulain,  and  so  they  went 
into  the  wood  and  encamped  for  the  night.  A  heavy 
snowfall  took  place,  and  they  were  all  in  much  distress, 
but  next  day  the  sun  rose  gloriously,  and  over  the 
white  plain  they  marched  away  into  Ulster,  counting 
the  prohibition  as  extending  only  for  one  night. 

The  Ford  of  the  Forked  Pole 

Cuchulain  now  followed  hard  on  their  track,  and  as 
he  went  he  estimated  by  the  tracks  they  had  left  the 
number  of  the  host  at  eighteen  triucha  cit  (54,000  men). 
Circling  round  the  host,  he  now  met  them  in  front,  and 
soon  came  upon  two  chariots  containing  scouts  sent 
ahead  by  Maev.  These  he  slew,  each  man  with  his 
driver,  and  having  with  one  sweep  of  his  sword  cut  a 
forked  pole  of  four  prongs  from  the  wood,  he  drove 
the  pole  deep  into  a  river-ford  at  the  place  called 
Athgowla,2  and  impaled  on  each  prong  a  bloody  head. 
When  the  host  came  up  they  wondered  and  feared  at 

1  In  the  Irish  bardic  literature,  as  in  the  Homeric  epics,  chastity 
formed  no  part  of  the  masculine  ideal  either  for  gods  or  men. 

2  "  The  Ford  of  the  Forked  Pole." 

207 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  sight,  and  Fergus  declared  that  they  were  under 
geise  not  to  pass  that  ford  till  one  of  them  had  plucked 
out  the  pole  even  as  it  was  driven  in,  with  the  finger- 
tips of  one  hand.  So  Fergus  drove  into  the  water  to 
essay  the  feat,  and  seventeen  chariots  were  broken 
under  him  as  he  tugged  at  the  pole,  but  at  last  he  tore 
it  out  ;  and  as  it  was  now  late  the  host  encamped  upon 
the  spot.  These  devices  of  Cuchulain  were  intended 
to  delay  the  invaders  until  the  Ulster  men  had  recovered 
from  their  debility. 

In  the  epic,  as  given  in  the  Book  of  Leinster,  and 
other  ancient  sources,  a  long  interlude  now  takes  place 
in  which  Fergus  explains  to  Maevwho  it  is — viz.,  "  my 
little  pupil  Setanta  " — who  is  thus  harrying  the  host,  and 
his  boyish  deeds,  some  of  which  have  been  already  told 
in  this  narrative,  are  recounted. 

The  Charioteer  of  Orlam 

The  host  proceeded  on  its  way  next  day,  and  the 
next  encounter  with  Cuchulain  shows  the  hero  in  a 
kindlier  mood.  He  hears  a  noise  of  timber  being  cut, 
and  going  into  a  wood  he  finds  there  a  charioteer 
belonging  to  a  son  of  Ailell  and  Maev  cutting  down 
chariot-poles  of  holly,  "tor,"  says  he,  "we  have 
damaged  our  chariots  sadly  in  chasing  that  famous  deer, 
Cuchulain."  Cuchulain — who,  it  must  be  remembered, 
was  at  ordinary  times  a  slight  and  unimposing  figure, 
though  in  battle  he  dilated  in  size  and  underwent  a 
fearful  distortion,  symbolic  of  Berserker  fury — helps 
the  driver  in  his  work.  "  Shall  I,"  he  asks,  "  cut  the 
poles  or  trim  them  for  thee  ? "  "  Do  thou  the  trim- 
ming," says  the  driver.  Cuchulain  takes  the  poles  by 
the  tops  and  draws  them  against  the  set  of  the  branches 
through  his  toes,  and  then  runs  his  fingers  down  them 
the  same  way,  and  gives  them  over  as  smooth  and 
208 


THE  BATTLE-FRENZY  OF  CUCHULAIN 

polished  as  if  they  were  planed  by  a  carpenter.  The 
driver  stares  at  him.  "  I  doubt  this  work  I  set  thee  to 
is  not  thy  proper  work,"  he  says.  "  Who  art  thou 
then  at  all  ? "  "  I  am  that  Cuchulain  of  whom  thou 
spakest  but  now."  "  Surely  I  am  but  a  dead  man," 
says  the  driver.  "  Nay,"  replies  Cuchulain,  "  I  slay 
not  drivers  nor  messengers  nor  men  unarmed.  But  run, 
tell  thy  master  Orlam  that  Cuchulain  is  about  to  visit 
him."  The  driver  runs  off,  but  Cuchulain  outstrips 
him,  meets  Orlam  first,  and  strikes  off  his  head.  For 
a  moment  the  host  of  Maev  see  him  as  he  shakes  this 
bloody  trophy  before  them  ;  then  he  disappears  from 
sight — it  is  the  first  glimpse  they  have  caught  of  their 
persecutor. 

The  Battle'Frenzy  of  Cuchulain 

A  number  of  scattered  episodes  now  follow.  The 
host  of  Maev  spreads  out  and  devastates  the  territories 
of  Bregia  and  of  Murthemney,  but  they  cannot  advance 
further  into  Ulster.  Cuchulain  hovers  about  them 
continually,  slaying  them  by  twos  and  threes,  and  no 
man  knows  where  he  will  swoop  next.  Maev  herself 
is  awed  when,  by  the  bullets  of  an  unseen  slinger,  a 
squirrel  and  a  pet  bird  are  killed  as  they  sit  upon  her 
shoulders.  Afterwards,  as  Cuchulain's  wrath  grows 
fiercer,  he  descends  with  supernatural  might  upon 
whole  companies  of  the  Connacht  host,  and  hundreds 
fall  at  his  onset.  The  characteristic  distortion  or 
riastradh  which  seized  him  in  his  battle-frenzy  is  then 
described.  He  became  a  fearsome  and  multiform  crea- 
ture such  as  never  was  known  before.  Every  particle  of 
him  quivered  like  a  bulrush  in  a  running  stream.  His 
calves  and  heels  and  hams  shifted  to  the  front,  and  his 
feet  and  knees  to  the  back,  and  the  muscles  of  his 
neck  stood  out  like  the  head  of  a  young  child.     One 

o  209 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

eye  was  engulfed  deep  in  his  head,  the  other  protruded, 
his  mouth  met  his  ears,  foam  poured  from  his  jaws 
like  the  fleece  of  a  three-year-old  wether.  The  beats 
of  his  heart  sounded  like  the  roars  of  a  lion  as  he  rushes 
on  his  prey.  A  light  blazed  above  his  head,  and  "  his 
hair  became  tangled  about  as  it  had  been  the  branches  of 
a  red  thorn-bush  stuffed  into  the  gap  of  a  fence.  .  .  . 
Taller,  thicker,  more  rigid,  longer  than  the  mast  of  a 
great  ship  was  the  perpendicular  jet  of  dusky  blood 
which  out  of  his  scalp's  very  central  point  shot  upwards 
and  was  there  scattered  to  the  four  cardinal  points, 
whereby  was  formed  a  magic  mist  of  gloom  resembling 
the  smoky  pall  that  drapes  a  regal  dwelling,  what  time 
a  king  at  nightfall  of  a  winter's  day  draws  near  to  it."1 
Such  was  the  imagery  by  which  Gaelic  writers  con- 
veyed the  idea  of  superhuman  frenzy.  At  the  sight  of 
Cuchulain  in  his  paroxysm  it  is  said  that  once  a  hundred 
of  Maev's  warriors  fell  dead  from  horror. 

The  Compact  of  the  Ford 

Maev  now  tried  to  tempt  him  by  great  largesse  to 
desert  the  cause  of  Ulster,  and  had  a  colloquy  with 
him,  the  two  standing  on  opposite  sides  of  a  glen  across 
which  they  talked.  She  scanned  him  closely,  and  was 
struck  by  his  slight  and  boyish  appearance.  She  failed 
to  move  him  from  his  loyalty  to  Ulster,  and  death 
descends  more  thickly  than  ever  upon  the  Connacht 
host  ;  the  men  are  afraid  to  move  out  for  plunder  save 
in  twenties  and  thirties,  and  at  night  the  stones  from 
Cuchulain's  sling  whistle  continually  through  the  camp, 
braining  or  maiming.  At  last,  through  the  mediation 
of  Fergus,  an  agreement  was  come  to.  Cuchulain 
undertook  not  to  harry  the  host  provided  they  would 

1  I  quote  from  Standish  Hayes  O'Grady's  translation,  in  Miss 
Hull's  "Cuchullin  Saga." 

210 


CAPTURE  OF  THE  BROWN  BULL 

only  send  against  him  one  champion  at  a  time,  whom 
Cuchulain  would  meet  in  battle  at  the  ford  of  the  River 
Dee,  which  is  now  called  the  Ford  of  Ferdia.1  While 
each  fight  was  in  progress  the  host  might  move  on,  but 
when  it  was  ended  they  must  encamp  till  the  morrow 
morning.  "  Better  to  lose  one  man  a  day  than  a 
hundred,"  said  Maev,  and  the  pact  was  made. 

Fergus  and  Cuchulain 

Several  single  combats  are  then  narrated,  in  which 
Cuchulain  is  always  a  victor.  Maev  even  persuades 
Fergus  to  go  against  him,  but  Fergus  and  Cuchulain 
will  on  no  account  fight  each  other,  and  Cuchulain,  by 
agreement  with  Fergus,  pretends  to  fly  before  him,  on 
Fergus's  promise  that  he  will  do  the  same  for  Cuchulain 
when  required.  How  this  pledge  was  kept  we  shall  see 
later. 

Capture  of  the  Brown  Bull 

During  one  of  Cuchulain's  duels  with  a  famous 
champion,  Natchrantal,  Maev,  with  a  third  of  her  army, 
makes  a  sudden  foray  into  Ulster  and  penetrates  as  far 
as  Dunseverick,  on  the  northern  coast,  plundering  and 
ravaging  as  they  go.  The  Brown  Bull,  who  was  originally 
at  Quelgny  (Co.  Down),  has  been  warned  at  an  earlier 
stage  by  the  Morrigan2  to  withdraw  himself,  and  he 
has  taken  refuge,  with  his  herd  of  cows,  in  a  glen  of 
Slievegallion,  Co.  Armagh.  The  raiders  of  Maev  find 
him  there,  and  drive  him  off  with  the  herd  in  triumph, 
passing  Cuchulain  as  they  return.  Cuchulain  slays  the 
leader  of  the  escort — Buic  son  of  Banblai — but  cannot 

1  Ath  Fherdia,  which  is  pronounced  and  now  spelt  "  Ardee."  It 
is  in  Co.  Louth,  at  the  southern  border  of  the  Plain  of  Murthemney, 
which  was  Cuchulain's  territory. 

3   See  p.  126. 

211 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

rescue  the  Bull,  and  "this,"  it  is  said,  "was  the  greatest 
affront  put  on  Cuchulain  during  the  course  of  the  raid." 

The  Morrigan 

The  raid  ought  now  to  have  ceased,  for  its  object  has 
been  attained,  but  by  this  time  the  hostings  of  the  four 
southern  provinces  *  had  gathered  together  under  Maev 
for  the  plunder  of  Ulster,  and  Cuchulain  remained  still 
the  solitary  warder  of  the  marches.  Nor  did  Maev 
keep  her  agreement,  for  bands  of  twenty  warriors  at  a 
time  were  loosed  against  him  and  he  had  much  ado  to 
defend  himself.  The  curious  episode  of  the  fight  with 
the  Morrigan  now  occurs.  A  young  woman  clad  in  a 
mantle  of  many  colours  appears  to  Cuchulain,  telling 
him  that  she  is  a  king's  daughter,  attracted  by  the  tales 
of  his  great  exploits,  and  she  has  come  to  offer  him  her 
love.  Cuchulain  tells  her  rudely  that  he  is  worn  and 
harassed  with  war  and  has  no  mind  to  concern  himselt 
with  women.  "  It  shall  go  hard  with  thee,"  then  said 
the  maid,  "  when  thou  hast  to  do  with  men,  and  I  shall 
be  about  thy  feet  as  an  eel  in  the  bottom  of  the  Ford." 
Then  she  and  her  chariot  vanished  from  his  sight  and 
he  saw  but  a  crow  sitting  on  a  branch  of  a  tree,  and  he 
knew  that  he  had  spoken  with  the  Morrigan. 

The  Fight  with  Loch 

The  next  champion  sent  against  him  by  Maev  was 
Loch  son  of  Mofebis.  To  meet  this  hero  it  is  said  that 
Cuchulain  had  to  stain  his  chin  with  blackberry  juice  so 
as  to  simulate  a  beard,  lest  Loch  should  disdain  to  do 
combat  with  a  boy.     So  they  fought  in  the  Ford,  and  the 

1  In  ancient  Ireland  there  were  five  provinces,  Munster  being 
counted  as  two,  or,  as  some  ancient  authorities  explain  it,  the 
High  King's  territory  in  Meath  and  Westmeath  being  reckoned  a 
separate  province. 

212 


Sleep  now,  Cuchulain,  by  the  grave  in  Lerga  "  21: 


LUGH  THE  PROTECTOR 

Morrigan  came  against  him  in  the  guise  of  a  white 
heifer  with  red  ears,  but  Cuchulain  fractured  her  eye 
with  a  cast  of  his  spear.  Then  she  came  swimming  up 
the  river  like  a  black  eel  and  twisted  herself  about  his 
legs,  and  ere  he  could  rid  himself  of  her  Loch  wounded 
him.  Then  she  attacked  him  as  a  grey  wolf,  and  again, 
before  he  could  subdue  her,  he  was  wounded  by  Loch. 
At  this  his  battle-fury  took  hold  of  him  and  he  drove 
the  Gae  Bolg  against  Loch,  splitting  his  heart  in  two. 
"  Suffer  me  to  rise,"  said  Loch,  "  that  I  may  fall  on  my 
face  on  thy  side  of  the  ford,  and  not  backward  toward 
the  men  of  Erin."  "  It  is  a  warrior's  boon  thou  askest," 
said  Cuchulain,  "  and  it  is  granted."  So  Loch  died  ;  and 
a  great  despondency,  it  is  said,  now  fell  upon  Cuchulain, 
for  he  was  outwearied  with  continued  fighting,  and  sorely 
wounded,  and  he  had  never  slept  since  the  beginning 
of  the  raid,  save  leaning  upon  his  spear  ;  and  he  sent 
his  charioteer,  Laeg,  to  see  if  he  could  rouse  the  men  ot 
Ulster  to  come  to  his  aid  at  last. 

Lugh  the  Protector 

But  as  he  lay  at  evening  by  the  grave-mound  of  Lerga 
in  gloom  and  dejection,  watching  the  camp-fires  of  the 
vast  army  encamped  over  against  him  and  the  glitter  of 
their  innumerable  spears,  he  saw  coming  through  the 
host  a  tall  and  comely  warrior  who  strode  impetuously 
forward,  and  none  of  the  companies  through  which  he 
passed  turned  his  head  to  look  at  him  or  seemed  to  see 
him.  He  wore  a  tunic  of  silk  embroidered  with  gold, 
and  a  green  mantle  fastened  with  a  silver  brooch  ;  in 
one  hand  was  a  black  shield  bordered  with  silver  and 
two  spears  in  the  other.  The  stranger  came  to  Cuchulain 
and  spoke  gently  and  sweetly  to  him  of  his  long  toil 
and  waking,  and  his  sore  wounds,  and  said  in  the  end  : 
"  Sleep  now,  Cuchulain,  by  the  grave  in  Lerga ;  sleep 

213 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

and  slumber  deeply  for  three  days,  and  for  that  time  1 
will  take  thy  place  and  defend  the  Ford  against  the  host 
of  Maev."  Then  Cuchulain  sank  into  a  profound 
slumber  and  trance,  and  the  stranger  laid  healing  balms 
of  magical  power  to  his  wounds  so  that  he  awoke  whole 
and  refreshed,  and  for  the  time  that  Cuchulain  slept  the 
stranger  held  the  Ford  against  the  host.  And  Cuchulain 
knew  that  this  was  Lugh  his  father,  who  had  come  from 
among  the  People  of  Dana  to  help  his  son  through  his 
hour  of  gloom  and  despair. 

The  Sacrifice  of  the  Boy  Corps 

But  still  the  men  of  Ulster  lay  helpless.  Now  there 
was  at  Emain  Macha  a  band  of  thrice  fifty  boys,  the 
sons  of  all  the  chieftains  of  the  provinces,  who  were 
there  being  bred  up  in  arms  and  in  noble  ways,  and  these 
suffered  not  from  the  curse  of  Macha,  for  it  fell  only  on 
grown  men.  But  when  they  heard  of  the  sore  straits  in 
which  Cuchulain,  their  playmate  not  long  ago,  was  lying 
they  put  on  their  light  armour  and  took  their  weapons 
and  went  forth  for  the  honour  of  Ulster,  under  Conor's 
young  son,  Follaman,  to  aid  him.  And  Follaman  vowed 
that  he  would  never  return  to  Emania  without  the 
diadem  of  Ailell  as  a  trophy.  Three  times  they  drove 
against  the  host  of  Maev,  and  thrice  their  own  number 
fell  before  them,  but  in  the  end  they  were  overwhelmed 
and  slain,  not  one  escaping  alive. 

The  Carnage  of  Murthemney 

This  was  done  as  Cuchulain  lay  in  his  trance,  and 
when  he  awoke,  refreshed  and  well,  and  heard  what  had 
been  done,  his  frenzy  came  upon  him  and  he  leaped 
into  his  war-chariot  and  drove  furiously  round  and 
round  the  host  of  Maev.  And  the  chariot  ploughed 
the  earth  till  the  ruts  were  like  the  ramparts  of  a 
214 


THE  CLAN  CALATIN 

fortress,  and  the  scythes  upon  its  wheels  caught  and 
mangled  the  bodies  of  the  crowded  host  till  they  were 
piled  like  a  wall  around  the  camp,  and  as  Cuchulain 
shouted  in  his  wrath  the  demons  and  goblins  and  wild 
things  in  Erin  yelled  in  answer,  so  that  with  the  terror 
and  the  uproar  the  host  of  men  heaved  and  surged 
hither  and  thither,  and  many  perished  from  each  other's 
weapons,  and  many  from  horror  and  fear.  And  this 
was  the  great  carnage,  called  the  Carnage  of  Murthem- 
ney,  that  Cuchulain  did  to  avenge  the  boy-corps  of 
Emania  ;  six  score  and  ten  princes  were  then  slain 
of  the  host  of  Maev,  besides  horses  and  women  and 
wolf-dogs  and  common  folk  without  number.  It 
is  said  that  Lugh  mac  Ethlinn  fought  there  by  his 
son. 

The  Clan  Calatin 

Next  the  men  of  Erin  resolved  to  send  against 
Cuchulain,  in  single  combat,  the  Clan  Calatin.1  Now 
Calatin  was  a  wizard,  and  he  and  his  seven-and-twenty 
sons  formed,  as  it  were,  but  one  being,  the  sons  being 
organs  of  their  father,  and  what  any  one  of  them  did 
they  all  did  alike.  They  were  all  poisonous,  so  that 
any  weapon  which  one  of  them  used  would  kill  in  nine 
days  the  man  who  was  but  grazed  by  it.  When  this 
multiform  creature  met  Cuchulain  each  hand  of  it 
hurled  a  spear  at  once,  but  Cuchulain  caught  the  twenty- 
eight  spears  on  his  shield  and  not  one  of  them  drew 
blood.  Then  he  drew  his  sword  to  lop  off  the  spears 
that  bristled  from  his  shield,  but  as  he  did  so  the  Clan 
Calatin  rushed  upon  him  and  flung  him  down,  thrusting 
his  face  into  the  gravel.  At  this  Cuchulain  gave  a 
great  cry  of  distress  at  the  unequal  combat,  and  one  of 

1  "  Clan"  in  Gaelic  means  children  or  offspring.    Clan  Calatin  ■= 
the  sons  of  Calatin. 

215 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  Ulster  exiles,  Fiacha  son  of  Firaba,  who  was  with 
the  host  of  Maev,  and  was  looking  on  at  the  fight, 
could  not  endure  to  see  the  plight  of  the  champion,  and 
he  drew  his  sword  and  with  one  stroke  he  lopped  off 
the  eight-and-twenty  hands  that  were  grinding  the  face 
of  Cuchulain  into  the  gravel  of  the  Ford.  Then 
Cuchulain  arose  and  hacked  the  Clan  Calatin  into 
fragments,  so  that  none  survived  to  tell  Maev  what 
Fiacha  had  done,  else  had  he  and  his  thirty  hundred 
followers  of  Clan  Rury  been  given  by  Maev  to  the 
edge  of  the  sword. 

Ferdia  to  the  Fray 

Cuchulain  had  now  overcome  all  the  mightiest  of 
Maev's  men,  save  only  the  mightiest  of  them  all  after 
Fergus,  Ferdia  son  of  Daman.  And  because  Ferdia 
was  the  old  friend  and  fellow  pupil  of  Cuchulain  he  had 
never  gone  out  against  him  ;  but  now  Maev  begged 
him  to  go,  and  he  would  not.  Then  she  offered  him 
her  daughter,  Findabair  of  the  Fair  Eyebrows,  to  wife, 
if  he  would  face  Cuchulain  at  the  Ford,  but  he  would 
not.  At  last  she  bade  him  go,  lest  the  poets  and 
satirists  of  Erin  should  make  verses  on  him  and  put 
him  to  open  shame,  and  then  in  wrath  and  sorrow  he 
consented  to  go,  and  bade  his  charioteer  make  ready  for 
to-morrow's  fray.  Then  was  gloom  among  all  his 
people  when  they  heard  of  that,  for  they  knew  that  if 
Cuchulain  and  their  master  met,  one  of  them  would 
return  alive  no  more. 

Very  early  in  the  morning  Ferdia  drove  to  the  Ford, 
and  lay  down  there  on  the  cushions  and  skins  of  the 
chariot  and  slept  till  Cuchulain  should  come.  Not  till 
it  was  full  daylight  did  Ferdia's  charioteer  hear  the 
thunder  of  Cuchulain's  war-car  approaching,  and  then 
he  woke  his  master,  and  the  two  friends  faced  each 
216 


FERDIA  TO  THE  FRAY 

other  across  the  Ford.  And  when  they  had  greeted 
each  other  Cuchulain  said  :  "  It  is  not  thou,  O  Ferdia, 
who  shouldst  have  come  to  do  battle  with  me.  When 
we  were  with  Skatha  did  we  not  go  side  by  side  in 
every  battle,  through  every  wood  and  wilderness  ?  were 
we  not  heart-companions,  comrades,  in  the  feast  and  the 
assembly  ?  did  we  not  share  one  bed  and  one  deep 
slumber  ?"  But  Ferdia  replied  :  "  O  Cuchulain,  thou 
of  the  wondrous  feats,  though  we  have  studied  poetry 
and  science  together,  and  though  I  have  heard  thee 
recite  our  deeds  of  friendship,  yet  it  is  my  hand  that 
shall  wound  thee.  I  bid  thee  remember  not  our 
comradeship,  O  Hound  of  Ulster  ;  it  shall  not  avail 
thee,  it  shall  not  avail  thee." 

They  then  debated  with  what  weapons  they  should 
begin  the  fight,  and  Ferdia  reminded  Cuchulain  of  the 
art  of  casting  small  javelins  that  they  had  learned  from 
Skatha,  and  they  agreed  to  begin  with  these.  Back- 
wards and  forwards,  then,  across  the  Ford,  hummed 
the  light  javelins  like  bees  on  a  summer's  day,  but 
when  noonday  had  come  not  one  weapon  had  pierced 
the  defence  of  either  champion.  Then  they  took  to 
the  heavy  missile  spears,  and  now  at  last  blood  began 
to  flow,  for  each  champion  wounded  the  other  time  and 
again.  At  last  the  day  came  to  its  close.  "Let  us 
cease  now,"  said  F'erdia,  and  Cuchulain  agreed.  Each 
then  threw  his  arms  to  his  charioteer,  and  the  friends 
embraced  and  kissed  each  other  three  times,  and  went 
to  their  rest.  Their  horses  were  in  the  same  paddock, 
their  drivers  warmed  themselves  over  the  same  fire,  and 
the  heroes  sent  each  other  food  and  drink  and  healing 
herbs  for  their  wounds. 

Next  day  they  betook  themselves  again  to  the 
Ford,  and  this  time,  because  Ferdia  had  the  choice  of 
weapons    the    day  before,   he   bade  Cuchulain    take   it 

217 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

now.1  Cuchulain  chose  then  the  heavy,  broad-bladed 
spears  for  close  fighting,  and  with  them  theyi  fought 
from  the  chariots  till  the  sun  went  down,  and  drivers 
and  horses  were  weary,  and  the  body  of  each  hero  was 
torn  with  wounds.  Then  at  last  they  gave  over,  and 
threw  away  their  weapons.  And  they  kissed  each 
other  as  before,  and  as  before  they  shared  all  things  at 
night,  and  slept  peacefully  till  the  morning. 

When  the  third  day  of  the  combat  came  Ferdia  wore 
an  evil  and  lowering  look,  and  Cuchulain  reproached 
him  for  coming  out  in  battle  against  his  comrade  for 
the  bribe  of  a  fair  maiden,  even  Findabair,  whom  Maev 
had  offered  to  every  champion  and  to  Cuchulain  him- 
self if  the  Ford  might  be  won  thereby  ;  but  Ferdia 
said  :  "  Noble  Hound,  had  I  not  faced  thee  when 
summoned,  my  troth  would  be  broken,  and  there 
would  be  shame  on  me  in  Rathcroghan."  It  is  now 
the  turn  of  Ferdia  to  choose  the  weapons,  and  they 
betake  themselves  to  their  "  heavy,  hard-smiting  swords," 
and  though  they  hew  from  each  other's  thighs  and 
shoulders  great  cantles  of  flesh,  neither  can  prevail  over 
the  other,  and  at  last  night  ends  the  combat.  This  time 
they  parted  from  each  other  in  heaviness  and  gloom,  and 
there  was  no  interchange  of  friendly  acts,  and  their 
drivers  and  horses  slept  apart.  The  passions  of  the 
warriors  had  now  risen  to  a  grim  sternness. 

1  Together  with  much  that  is  wild  and  barbaric  in  this  Irish  epic 
of  the  "  Tain  "  the  reader  will  be  struck  by  the  ideals  of  courtesy  and 
gentleness  which  not  infrequently  come  to  light  in  it.  It  must  be 
remembered  that,  as  Mr.  A.  H.  Leahy  points  out  in  his  "  Heroic 
Romances  of  Ireland,"  the  legend  of  the  Raid  of  Quelgny  is,  at  the  very 
latest,  a  century  earlier  than  all  other  known  romances  of  chivalry, 
Welsh  or  Continental.  It  is  found  in  the  "  Book  of  Leinster,"  a 
manuscript  of  the  twelfth  century,  as  well  as  in  other  sources,  and 
was  doubtless  considerably  older  than  the  date  of  its  transcription 
there.  «'  The  whole  thing,"  says  Mr.  Leahy,  "  stands  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  literature  of  modern  Europe." 


21! 


• 


Cuchulain  seized   Ferdia  as  he  fell" 


DEATH  OF  FERDIA 

Death  of  Ferdia 

On  the  fourth  day  Ferdia  knew  the  contest  would 
be  decided,  and  he  armed  himself  with  especial  care. 
Next  his  skin  was  a  tunic  of  striped  silk  bordered  with 
golden  spangles,  and  over  that  hung  an  apron  of  brown 
leather.  Upon  his  belly  he  laid  a  flat  stone,  large  as  a 
millstone,  and  over  that  a  strong,  deep  apron  of  iron, 
for  he  dreaded  that  Cuchulain  would  use  the  Gae  Bolg 
that  day.  And  he  put  on  his  head  his  crested  helmet 
studded  with  carbuncle  and  inlaid  with  enamels,  and 
girt  on  his  golden-hilted  sword,  and  on  his  left  arm 
hung  his  broad  shield  with  its  fifty  bosses  of  bronze. 
Thus  he  stood  by  the  Ford,  and  as  he  waited  he  tossed 
up  his  weapons  and  caught  them  again  and  did  many 
wonderful  feats,  playing  with  his  mighty  weapons  as  a 
juggler  plays  with  apples;  and  Cuchulain,  watching  him, 
said  to  Laeg,  his  driver  :  "  If  I  give  ground  to-day,  do 
thou  reproach  and  mock  me  and  spur  me  on  to  valour, 
and  praise  and  hearten  me  if  I  do  well,  for  I  shall  have 
need  of  all  my  courage." 

"O  Ferdia,"  said  Cuchulain  when  they  met,  "what 
shall  be  our  weapons  to-day  ? "  "  It  is  thy  choice  to- 
day," said  Ferdia.  "  Then  let  it  be  all  or  any,"  said 
Cuchulain,  and  Ferdia  was  cast  down  at  hearing  this,  but 
he  said,  "  So  be  it,"  and  thereupon  the  fight  began. 
Till  midday  they  fought  with  spears,  and  none  could 
gain  any  advantage  over  the  other.  Then  Cuchulain 
drew  his  sword  and  sought  to  smite  Ferdia  over  the 
rim  of  his  shield  ;  but  the  giant  Flrbolg  flung  him  off. 
Thrice  Cuchulain  leaped  high  into  the  air,  seeking  to 
strike  Ferdia  over  his  shield,  but  each  time  as  he 
descended  Ferdia  caught  him  upon  the  shield  and  flung 
him  off  like  a  little  child  into  the  Ford.  And  Laeg 
mocked  him,  crying  :  "  He  casts  thee  off  as  a  river  flings 

219 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

its  foam,  he  grinds  thee  as  a  millstone  grinds  a  corn  of 
wheat ;  thou  elf,  never  call  thyself  a  warrior." 

Then  at  last  Cuchulain's  frenzy  came  upon  him,  and 
he  dilated  giant-like,  till  he  overtopped  Ferdia,  and  the 
hero-light  blazed  about  his  head.     In  close  contact  the 
two  were  interlocked,  whirling  and  trampling,  while  the 
demons  and  goblins  and  unearthly  things  of  the  glens 
screamed  from  the  edges  of  their  swords,  and  the  waters 
of  the  Ford  recoiled  in  terror  from  them,  so  that  for  a 
while  they  fought  on  dry  land  in  the  midst  of  the  river- 
bed.    And  now  Ferdia  found  Cuchulain  a  moment  oft 
his  guard,  and  smote  him  with  the  edge  of  the  sword, 
and  it  sank  deep  into  his  flesh,  and  all  the  river  ran  red 
with  his  blood.     And  he  pressed  Cuchulain  sorely  after 
that,   hewing    and    thrusting   so   that  Cuchulain   could 
endure   it  no  longer,  and  he  shouted  to  Laeg  to  fling 
him  the  Gae  Bolg.    When  Ferdia  heard  that  he  lowered 
his  shield  to  guard  himself  from  below,  and  Cuchulain 
drove  his  spear  over  the  rim  of  the  shield  and  through 
his  breastplate  into  his  chest.     And  Ferdia  raised  his 
shield  again,  but  in  that  moment  Cuchulain  seized  the 
Gae  Bolg  in  his  toes  and  drove  it  upward  against  Ferdia, 
and  it  pierced  through  the  iron  apron  and  burst  in  three 
the  millstone  that  guarded  him,  and  deep  into  his  body 
it  passed,  so  that  every  crevice   and  cranny  of  him  was 
filled  with  its  barbs.     "  'Tis  enough,"  cried  Ferdia;  "  I 
have  my  death  of  that.     It  is  an  ill  deed  that  I  fall  by 
thy  hand,  O  Cuchulain."     Cuchulain  seized  him  as  he 
fell,  and  carried  him  northward  across  the  Ford,  that  he 
might  die  on  the  further  side  of  it,  and  not  on  the  side 
of  the  men  of  Erin.     Then  he  laid  him  down,  and  a 
faintness  seized  Cuchulain,  and  he  was   falling,  when 
Laeg  cried  :  "  Rise  up,  Cuchulain,  for  the  host  of  Erin 
will  be  upon  us.     No  single  combat  will  they  give  after 
Ferdia  has  fallen."     But  Cuchulain  said  :  "Why  should 
220 


THE  ROUSING  OF  ULSTER 

I  rise  again,  O  my  servant,  now  he  that  lieth  here  has 
fallen  by  my  hand  ?"  and  he  fell  in  a  swoon  like  death. 
And  the  host  of  Maev  with  tumult  and  rejoicing,  with 
tossing  of  spears  and  shouting  of  war-songs,  poured 
across  the  border  into  Ulster. 

But  before  they  left  the  Ford  they  took  the  body  of 
Ferdia  and  laid  it  in  a  grave,  and  built  a  mound  over 
him  and  set  up  a  pillar-stone  with  his  name  and  lineage 
in  Ogham.  And  from  Ulster  came  certain  of  the 
friends  of  Cuchulain,  and  they  bore  him  away  into 
Murthemney,  where  they  washed  him  and  bathed  his 
wounds  in  the  streams,  and  his  kin  among  the  Danaan 
folk  cast  magical  herbs  into  the  rivers  for  his  healing. 
But  he  lay  there  in  weakness  and  in  stupor  for  many  days. 

The  Rousing  of  Ulster 

Now  Sualtam,  the  father  of  Cuchulain,  had  taken  his 
son's  horse,  the  Grey  of  Macha,  and  ridden  off  again  to 
see  if  by  any  means  he  might  rouse  the  men  of  Ulster 
to  defend  the  province.  And  he  went  crying  abroad  : 
"  The  men  of  Ulster  are  being  slain,  the  women  carried 
captive,  the  kine  driven  !  "  Yet  they  stared  on  him 
stupidly,  as  though  they  knew  not  of  what  he  spake. 
At  last  he  came  to  Emania,  and  there  were  Cathbad 
the  Druid  and  Conor  the  King,  and  all  their  nobles 
and  lords,  and  Sualtam  cried  aloud  to  them  :  "The 
men  of  Ulster  are  being  slain,  the  women  carried 
captive,  the  kine  driven  ;  and  Cuchulain  alone  holds 
the  gap  of  Ulster  against  the  four  provinces  of  Erin. 
Arise  and  defend  yourselves  ! "  But  Cathbad  only 
said  :  "  Death  were  the  due  of  him  who  thus  dis- 
turbs the  King" ;  and  Conor  said  :  "  Yet  it  is  true  what 
the  man  says";  and  the  lords  of  Ulster  wagged  their 
heads  and  murmured  :   "  True  indeed  it  is." 

Then  Sualtam  wheeled  round  his  horse  in  anger  and 

221 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

was  about  to  depart  when,  with  a  start  which  the  Grey 
made,  his  neck  fell  against  the  sharp  rim  of  the  shield 
upon  his  back,  and  it  shore  off  his  head,  and  the  head 
fell  on  the  ground.  Yet  still  it  cried  its  message  as  it 
lay,  and  at  last  Conor  bade  put  it  on  a  pillar  that  it 
might  be  at  rest.  But  it  still  went  on  crying  and  ex- 
horting, and  at  length  into  the  clouded  mind  of  the 
king  the  truth  began  to  penetrate,  and  the  glazed  eyes 
of  the  warriors  began  to  glow,  and  slowly  the  spell  ot 
Macha's  curse  was  lifted  from  their  minds  and  bodies. 
Then  Conor  arose  and  swore  a  mighty  oath,  saying  : 
"  The  heavens  are  above  us  and  the  earth  beneath  us, 
and  the  sea  is  round  about  us  ;  and  surely,  unless  the 
heavens  fall  on  us  and  the  earth  gape  to  swallow  us 
up,  and  the  sea  overwhelm  the  earth,  I  will  restore 
every  woman  to  her  hearth,  and  every  cow  to  its  byre."  1 
His  Druid  proclaimed  that  the  hour  was  propitious, 
and  the  king  bade  his  messengers  go  forth  on  every 
side  and  summon  Ulster  to  arms,  and  he  named  to 
them  warriors  long  dead  as  well  as  the  living,  for  the 
cloud  of  the  curse  still  lingered  in  his  brain. 

With  the  curse  now  departed  from  them  the  men 
of  Ulster  flocked  joyfully  to  the  summons,  and  on 
every  hand  there  was  grinding  of  spears  and  swords, 
and  buckling  on  of  armour  and  harnessing  of  war- 
chariots  for  the  rising-out  of  the  province.2  One  host 
came  under  Conor  the  King  and  Keltchar,  son  of 
Uthecar  Hornskin,  from  Emania  southwards,  and 
another  from  the  west  along  the  very  track  of  the  host 
of  Maev.     And  Conor's  host  fell  upon  eight  score  of 

1  Another  instance  of  the  survival  of  the  oath  formula  recited  by 
the  Celtic  envoys  to  Alexander  the  Great.     See  p.  23. 

2  "  Rising-out"  is  the  vivid  expression  used  by  Irish  writers  for  a 
clan  or  territory  going  on  the  war-path.  "Hosting"  is  also  used 
in  a  similar  sense. 

222 


The  head  still  went  on  crying  and   exhorting' 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GARACH 

the  men  of  Erin  in  Meath,  who  were  carrying  away  a 
great  booty  of  women-captives,  and  they  slew  every 
man  of  the  eight  score  and  rescued  the  women.  Maev 
and  her  host  then  fell  back  toward  Connacht,  but  when 
they  reached  Slemon  Midi,  the  Hill  of  Slane,  in  Meath, 
the  Ulster  bands  joined  each  other  there  and  prepared 
to  give  battle.  Maev  sent  her  messenger  mac  Roth  to 
view  the  Ulster  host  on  the  Plain  of  Garach  and  report 
upon  it.  Mac  Roth  came  back  with  an  awe-striking 
description  of  what  he  beheld.  When  he  first  looked 
he  saw  the  plain  covered  with  deer  and  other  wild 
beasts.  These,  explains  Fergus,  had  been  driven  out 
of  the  forests  by  the  advancing  host  of  the  Ulster  men. 
The  second  time  mac  Roth  looked  he  saw  a  mist  that 
filled  the  valleys,  the  hill-tops  standing  above  it  like 
islands.  Out  of  the  mist  there  came  thunder  and 
flashes  of  light,  and  a  wind  that  nearly  threw  him  off" 
his  feet.  "What  is  this?"  asks  Maev,  and  Fergus 
tells  her  that  the  mist  is  the  deep  breathing  of  the 
warriors  as  they  march,  and  the  light  is  the  flashing  of 
their  eyes,  and  the  thunder  is  the  clangour  of  their 
war-cars  and  the  clash  of  their  weapons  as  they  go  to 
the  fight  :  "They  think  they  will  never  reach  it,"  says 
Fergus.  "  We  have  warriors  to  meet  them,"  says  Maev. 
"  You  will  need  that,"  says  Fergus,  "for  in  all  Ireland, 
nay,  in  all  the  Western  world,  to  Greece  and  Scythia  and 
the  Tower  of  Bregon 1  and  the  Island  of  Gades,  there  live 
not  who  can  face  the  men  of  Ulster  in  their  wrath." 

A  long  passage  then  follows  describing  the  appearance 
and  equipment  of  each  of  the  Ulster  chiefs. 

The  Battle  of  Garach 

The  battle  was  joined  on  the   Plain  of  Garach,    in 
Meath.     Fergus,   wielding   a    two-handed    sword,   the 

1  See  p.  130. 

223 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

sword  which,  it  was  said,  when  swung  in  battle  made 
circles  like  the  arch  of  a  rainbow,  swept  down  whole 
ranks  of  the  Ulster  men  at  each  blow,1  and  the  fierce 
Maev  charged  thrice  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy. 

Fergus  met  Conor  the  King,  and  smote  him  on  his 
golden-bordered  shield,  but  Cormac,  the  king's  son, 
begged  for  his  father's  life.  Fergus  then  turned  on 
Conall  of  the  Victories. 

"  Too  hot  art  thou,"  said  Conall,  "  against  thy  people 
and  thy  race  for  a  wanton."  2  Fergus  then  turned  from 
slaying  the  Ulstermen,  but  in  his  battle-fury  he  smote 
among  the  hills  with  his  rainbow-sword,  and  struck  off 
the  tops  of  the  three  Mae/a  of  Meath,  so  that  they  are 
flat-topped  (mael)  to  this  day. 

Cuchulain  in  his  stupor  heard  the  crash  of  Fergus's 
blows,  and  coming  slowly  to  himself  he  asked  of  Laeg 
what  it  meant.  "  It  is  the  sword-play  of  Fergus,"  said 
Laeg.  Then  he  sprang  up,  and  his  body  dilated  so  that 
the  wrappings  and  swathings  that  had  been  bound  on 
him  flew  off,  and  he  armed  himself  and  rushed  into 
the  battle.  Here  he  met  Fergus.  "Turn  hither, 
Fergus,"  he  shouted  ;  "  I  will  wash  thee  as  foam  in  a 
pool,  I  will  go  over  thee  as  the  tail  goes  over  a  cat,  I 
will  smite  thee  as  a  mother  smites  her  infant."  "  Who 
speaks  thus  to  me  ?  "  cried  Fergus.  "  Cuchulain  mac 
Sualtam ;  and  now  do  thou  avoid  me  as  thou  art 
pledged."  3 

"  I  have  promised  even  that,"  said  Fergus,  and  then 
went  out  of  the  battle,  and  with  him  the  men  of  Leinster 
and  the  men  of  Munster,  leaving  Maev  with  her  seven 
sons  and  the  hosting  of  Connacht  alone. 

1  The  sword  of  Fergus  was  a  fairy  weapon  called  the  Caladcholg 
(hard  dinter),  a  name  of  which  Arthur's  more  famous  "  Excalibur  " 
is  a  Latinised  corruption. 

2  The  reference  is  to  Deirdre.  3  See  p.  211. 
224 


Cuchulain  and  the  Fairy  Maidens 


224 


CUCHULAIN  IN  FAIRYLAND 

It  was  midday  when  Cuchulain  came  into  the  fight ; 
when  the  evening  sun  was  shining  through  the  leaves 
of  the  trees  his  war-chariot  was  but  two  wheels  and  a 
handful  of  shattered  ribs,  and  the  host  of  Connacht  was 
in  full  flight  towards  the  border.  Cuchulain  overtook 
Maev,  who  crouched  under  her  chariot  and  entreated 
grace.  "  I  am  not  wont  to  slay  women,"  said  Cuchu- 
lain, and  he  protected  her  till  she  had  crossed  the 
Shannon  at  Athlone. 

The  Fight  of  the  Bulls 

But  the  Brown  Bull  of  Quelgny,  that  Maev  had  sent 
into  Connacht  by  a  circuitous  way,  met  the  white-horned 
Bull  of  Ailell  on  the  Plain  of  Aei,  and  the  two  beasts 
fought  ;  but  the  Brown  Bull  quickly  slew  the  other, 
and  tossed  his  fragments  about  the  land  so  that  pieces 
of  him  were  strewn  from  Rathcroghan  to  Tara  ;  and 
then  careered  madly  about  till  he  fell  dead,  bellowing  and 
vomiting  black  gore,  at  the  Ridge  of  the  Bull,  between 
Ulster  and  Iveagh.  Ailell  and  Maev  made  peace  with 
Ulster  for  seven  years,  and  the  Ulster  men  returned 
home  to  Emain  Macha  with  great  glory. 

Thus  ends  the  "  Tain  Bo  Cuailgne,"  or  Cattle  Raid  of 
Quelgny ;  and  it  was  written  out  in  the  "  Book  of 
Leinster  "  in  the  year  1 1 50  by  the  hand  of  Finn  mac 
Gorman,  Bishop  of  Kildare,  and  at  the  end  is  written  : 
"  A  blessing  on  all  such  as  faithfully  shall  recite  the 
"  Tain  "  as  it  stands  here,  and  shall  not  give  it  in  any 
other  form." 

Cuchulain  in  Fairyland 

One  of  the  strangest  tales  in  Celtic  legend  tells  how 
Cuchulain,  as  he  lay  asleep  after  hunting,  against  a 
pillar-stone,  had  a  vision  of  two  Danaan  women  who 
came    to  him  armed  with   rods  and    alternately   beat 

p  225 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

him  till  he  was  all  but  dead,  and  he  could  not  lift  a 
hand  to  defend  himself.  Next  day,  and  for  a  year 
thereafter,  he  lay  in  sore  sickness,  and  none  could  heal 
him. 

Then  a  man  whom  none  knew  came  and  told  him  to 
go  to  the  pillar-stone  where  he  had  seen  the  vision,  and 
he  would  learn  what  was  to  be  done  for  his  recovery. 
There  he  found  a  Danaan  woman  in  a  green  mantle, 
one  of  those  who  had  chastised  him,  and  she  told  him 
that  Fand,  the  Pearl  of  Beauty,  wife  of  Mananan  the 
Sea-god,  had  set  her  love  on  him  ;  and  she  was 
at  enmity  with  her  husband  Mananan ;  and  her  realm 
was  besieged  by  three  demon  kings,  against  whom 
Cuchulain's  help  was  sought,  and  the  price  of  his  help 
would  be  the  love  of  Fand.  Laeg,  the  charioteer,  was 
then  sent  by  Cuchulain  to  report  upon  Fand  and  her 
message.  He  entered  Fairyland,  which  lies  beyond  a 
lake  across  which  he  passed  in  a  magic  boat  of  bronze, 
and  came  home  with  a  report  of  Fand's  surpassing 
beauty  and  the  wonders  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  Cuchu- 
ain  then  betook  himself  thither.  Here  he  had  a  battle 
in  a  dense  mist  with  the  demons,  who  are  described  as 
resembling  sea-waves — no  doubt  we  are  to  understand 
that  they  are  the  folk  of  the  angry  husband,  Mananan. 
Then  he  abode  with  Fand,  enjoying  all  the  delights  of 
Fairyland  for  a  month,  after  which  he  bade  her  fare- 
well, and  appointed  a  trysting-place  on  earth,  the  Strand 
of  the  Yew  Tree,  where  she  was  to  meet  him. 

Fand,  Emer,  and  Cuchulain 

But  Emer  heard  of  the  tryst ;  and  though  not 
commonly  disturbed  at  Cuchulain's  numerous  infi- 
delities, she  came  on  this  occasion  with  fifty  of  her 
maidens  armed  with  sharp  knives  to  slay  Fand.  Cuchu- 
lain and  Fand  perceive  their  chariots  from  afar,  and 
226 


FAND,  EMER,  AND  CUCHULAIN 

the  armed  angry  women  with  golden  clasps  shining  on 
their  breasts,  and  he  prepares  to  protect  his  mistress. 
He  addresses  Emer  in  a  curious  poem,  describing  the 
beauty  and  skill  and  magical  powers  of  Fand — "  There 
is  nothing  the  spirit  can  wish  for  that  she  has  not  got." 
Emer  replies  :  "In  good  sooth,  the  lady  to  whom  thou 
dost  cling  seems  in  no  way  better  than  I  am,  but  the 
new  is  ever  sweet  and  the  well-known  is  sour  ;  thou 
hast  all  the  wisdom  of  the  time,  Cuchulain  !  Once  we 
dwelled  in  honour  together,  and  still  might  dwell  if  I 
could  find  favour  in  thy  sight."  "  By  my  word  thou 
dost,"  said  Cuchulain,  "and  shalt  find  it  so  long  as  I 
live." 

"  Give  me  up,"  then  said  Fand.  But  Emer  said : 
"  Nay,  it  is  more  fitting  that  I  be  the  deserted  one." 
"Not  so,"  said  Fand  ;  "it  is  I  who  must  go."  "And 
an  eagerness  for  lamentation  seized  upon  Fand,  and  her 
soul  was  great  within  her,  for  it  was  shame  for  her  to 
be  deserted  and  straightway  to  return  to  her  home ; 
moreover,  the  mighty  love  that  she  bore  to  Cuchulain 
was  tumultuous  in  her."1 

But  Mananan,  the  Son  of  the  Sea,  knew  of  her 
sorrow  and  her  shame,  and  he  came  to  her  aid,  none 
seeing  him  but  she  alone,  and  she  welcomed  him  in 
a  mystic  song.  "  Wilt  thou  return  to  me  ? "  said 
Mananan,  "  or  abide  with  Cuchulain?"  "In  truth," 
said  Fand,  "  neither  of  ye  is  better  or  nobler  than  the 
other,  but  I  will  go  with  thee,  Mananan,  for  thou  hast 
no  other  mate  worthy  of  thee,  but  that  Cuchulain  has 
in  Emer. 

So  she  went  to  Mananan,  and  Cuchulain,  who  did 
not  see  the  god,  asked  Laeg  what  was  happening. 
"  Fand,"  he  replied,  "  is  going  away  with  the  Son  of  the 
Sea,  since  she  hath  not  been  pleasing  in  thy  sight." 

1  A.  H.  Leahy's  translation,  "  Heroic  Romances  of  Ireland,"  vol.  i. 

227 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Then  Cuchulain  bounded  into  the  air  and  fled  from 
the  place,  and  lay  a  long  time  refusing  meat  and  drink, 
until  at  last  the  Druids  gave  him  a  draught  of  forget- 
fulness ;  and  Mananan,  it  is  said,  shook  his  cloak 
between  Cuchulain  and  Fand,  so  that  they  might  meet 
no  more  throughout  eternity.1 

The  Vengeance  of  Maev 

Though  Maev  made  peace  with  Ulster  after  the 
battle  of  Garech  she  vowed  the  death  of  Cuchulain  for 
all  the  shame  and  loss  he  had  brought  upon  her  and 
on  her  province,  and  she  sought  how  she  might  take 
her  vengeance  upon  him. 

Now  the  wife  of  the  wizard  Calatin,  whom  Cuchulain 
slew  at  the  Ford,  brought  forth,  after  her  husband's 
death,  six  children  at  a  birth,  namely,  three  sons  and 
three  daughters.  Misshapen,  hideous,  poisonous,  born 
for  evil  were  they  ;  and  Maev,  hearing  of  these,  sent 
them  to  learn  the  arts  of  magic,  not  in  Ireland  only,  but 
in  Alba  ;  and  even  as  far  as  Babylon  they  went  to  seek 
for  hidden  knowledge,  and  they  came  back  mighty  in 
their  craft,  and  she  loosed  them  against  Cuchulain. 

Cuchulain  and  Blanid 

Besides  the  Clan  Calatin,  Cuchulain  had  also  other 
foes,  namely  Ere,  the  King  of  Ireland,  son  to  Cairpre, 
whom  Cuchulain  had  slain  in  battle,  and  Lewy  son  of 
Curoi,  King  of  Munster.2  For  Curoi's  wife,  Blanid, 
had  set  her  love  on  Cuchulain,  and  she  bade  him  come 
and  take  her  from  Curoi's  dun,  and  watch  his  time  to 

1  The  cloak  of  Mananan  (see  p.  125)  typifies  the  sea — here,  in  its 
dividing  and  estranging  power. 

2  This  Curoi  appears  in  various  tales  of  the  Ultonian  Cycle  with 
attributes  which  show  that  he  was  no  mortal  king,  but  a  local  deity. 
228 


Emer  hears  of  the  Trystj 


228 


THE  MADNESS  OF  CUCHULAIN 

attack  the  dun,  when  he  would  see  the  stream  that 
flowed  from  it  turn  white.  So  Cuchulain  and  his  men 
waited  in  a  wood  hard  by  till  Blanid  judged  that  the 
time  was  fit,  and  she  then  poured  into  the  stream  the 
milk  of  three  cows.  Then  Cuchulain  attacked  the 
dun,  and  took  it  by  surprise,  and  slew  Curoi,  and  bore 
away  the  woman.  But  Fercartna,  the  bard  of  Curoi, 
went  with  them  and  showed  no  sign,  till,  finding  him- 
self near  Blanid  as  she  stood  near  the  cliff-edge  of 
Beara,  he  flung  his  arms  round  her,  and  leaped  with 
her  over  the  cliff,  and  so  they  perished,  and  Curoi  was 
avenged  upon  his  wife. 

All  these  now  did  Maev  by  secret  messages  and  by 
taunts  and  exhortations  arouse  against  Cuchulain,  and 
they  waited  till  they  heard  that  the  curse  of  Macha  was 
again  heavy  on  the  men  of  Ulster,  and  then  they  assembled 
a  host  and  marched  to  the  Plain  of  Murthemney. 

The  Madness  of  Cuchulain 

And  first  the  Children  of  Calatin  caused  a  horror  and 
a  despondency  to  fall  upon  the  mind  of  Cuchulain, 
and  out  of  the  hooded  thistles  and  puff-balls  and 
fluttering  leaves  of  the  forest  they  made  the  semblance 
of  armed  battalions  marching  against  Murthemney,  and 
Cuchulain  seemed  to  see  on  every  side  the  smoke  of 
burning  dwellings  going  up.  And  for  two  days  he  did 
battle  with  the  phantoms  till  he  was  sick  and  wearied 
out.  Then  Cathbad  and  the  men  of  Ulster  persuaded 
him  to  retire  to  a  solitary  glen,  where  fifty  of  the 
princesses  of  Ulster,  and  among  them  Niam,  wife  of  his 
faithful  friend  Conall  of  the  Victories,  tended  him,  and 
Niam  made  him  vow  that  he  would  not  leave  the  dun 
where  he  was  until  she  gave  him  leave. 

But  still  the  Children  of  Calatin  filled  the  land  with 
apparitions  of  war,  and  smoke  and  flames  went  up,  and 

229 


:  MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

wild  cries  and  wailings  with  chattering,  goblin  laughter 
and  the  braying  of  trumpets  and  horns  were  borne 
upon  the  winds.  And  Bave,  Calatin's  daughter,  went 
into  the  glen,  and,  taking  the  form  of  a  handmaid  of 
Niam,  she  beckoned  her  away  and  led  her  to  a  distance 
among  the  woods  and  put  a  spell  of  straying  on  her  so 
that  she  was  lost  and  could  find  her  way  home  no 
more.  Bave  then  went  in  the  form  of  Niam  to 
Cuchulain  and  bade  him  up  and  rescue  Ulster  from  the 
hosts  that  were  harrying  it,  and  the  Morrigan  came  in 
the  form  of  a  great  crow  where  Cuchulain  sat  with  the 
women,  and  croaked  of  war  and  slaughter.  Then 
Cuchulain  sprang  up  and  called  Laeg  to  harness  his 
chariot.  But  when  Laeg  sought  for  the  Grey  of 
Macha  to  harness  him,  the  horse  fled  from  him,  and 
resisted,  and  only  with  great  difficulty  could  Laeg  yoke 
him  in  the  chariot,  while  large  tears  of  dark  blood 
trickled  down  his  face. 

Then  Cuchulain,  having  armed  himself,  drove  forth  ; 
and  on  every  side  shapes  and  sounds  of  dread  assailed 
him  and  clouded  his  mind,  and  then  it  appeared  to 
him  that  he  saw  a  great  smoke,  lit  with  bursts  of  red 
flame,  over  the  ramparts  of  Emain  Macha,  and  he 
thought  he  saw  the  corpse  of  Emer  tossed  out  over 
the  ramparts.  But  when  he  came  to  his  dun  at 
Murthemney,  there  was  Emer  living,  and  she  entreated 
him  to  leave  the  phantoms  alone,  but  he  would  not 
listen  to  her,  and  he  bade  her  farewell.  Then  he  bade 
farewell  to  his  mother  Dectera,  and  she  gave  him  a 
goblet  of  wine  to  drink,  but  ere  he  could  drink  it  the 
wine  turned  to  blood,  and  he  flung  it  away,  saying,  "  My 
life's  end  is  near ;  this  time  I  shall  not  return  alive  from 
the  battle."  And  Dectera  and  Cathbad  besought  him  to 
await  the  coming  of  Conall  of  the  Victories,  who  was 
away  on  a  journey,  but  he  would  not. 
23c 


CLAN  CALATIN  AGAIN 

The  Washer  at  the  Ford 

When  he  came  to  the  ford  upon  the  plain  of 
Emania  he  saw  there  kneeling  by  the  stream  as  it  were 
a  young  maiden,  weeping  and  wailing,  and  she  washed 
a  heap  of  bloody  raiment  and  warlike  arms  in  the 
stream,  and  when  she  raised  a  dripping  vest  or  corselet 
from  the  water  Cuchulain  saw  that  they  were  his  own. 
And  as  they  crossed  the  ford  she  vanished  from  their 
sight.1 

Clan  Calatin  Again 

Then,  having  taken  his  leave  of  Conor  and  of  the 
womenfolk  in  Emania,  he  turned  again  towards  Mur- 
themney  and  the  foe.  But  on  his  way  he  saw  by  the 
roadside  three  old  crones,  each  blind  of  one  eye, 
hideous  and  wretched,  and  they  had  made  a  little  fire 
of  sticks,  and  over  it  they  were  roasting  a  dead  dog 
on  spits  of  rowan  wood.  As  Cuchulain  passed  they 
called  to  him  to  alight  and  stay  with  them  and  share 
their  food.  "That  will  I  not,  in  sooth,"  said  he. 
"Had  we  a  great  feast,"  they  said,  "thou  wouldst 
soon  have  stayed  ;  it  doth  not  become  the  great  to 
despise  the  small."  Then  Cuchulain,  because  he  would 
not  be  thought  discourteous  to  the  wretched,  lighted 
down,  and  he  took  a  piece  of  the  roast  and  ate  it,  and 
the  hand  with  which  he  took  it  was  stricken  up  to  the 
shoulder  so  that  its  former  strength  was  gone.  For  it 
was  gets  to  Cuchulain  to  approach  a  cooking  hearth  and 
take  food  from  it,  and  it  was  gets  to  him  to  eat  of  his 
namesake.2 

1  This  apparition  of  the  Washer  of  the  Ford  is  of  frequent 
occurrence  in  Irish  legend. 

2  See  p.  164  for  the  reference  to  gets.  "  His  namesake  "  refers, 
of  course,  to  the  story  of  the  Hound  of  Cullan,  pp.  183,  184. 

231 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Death  of  Cuchulain 

Near  to  Slieve  Fuad,  south  of  Armagh,  Cuchulain 
found  the  host  of  his  enemies,  and  drove  furiously 
against  them,  plying  the  champion's  "  thunder-feat  " 
upon  them  until  the  plain  was  strewn  with  their  dead. 
Then  a  satirist,  urged  on  by  Lewy,  came  near  him  and 
demanded  his  spear.1  "  Have  it,  then,"  said  Cuchulain, 
and  flung  it  at  him  with  such  force  that  it  went  clean 
through  him  and  killed  nine  men  beyond.  "  A  king 
will  fall  by  that  spear,"  said  the  Children  of  Calatin  to 
Lewy,  and  Lewy  seized  it  and  flung  it  at  Cuchulain, 
but  it  smote  Laeg,  the  king  of  charioteers,  so  that  his 
bowels  fell  out  on  the  cushions  of  the  chariot,  and  he 
bade  farewell  to  his  master  and  he  died. 

Then  another  satirist  demanded  the  spear,  and 
Cuchulain  said :  "  I  am  not  bound  to  grant  more  than 
one  request  on  one  day."  But  the  satirist  said :  "  Then 
I  will  revile  Ulster  for  thy  default,"  and  Cuchulain  flung 
him  the  spear  as  before,  and  Ere  now  got  it,  and  this  time 
in  flying  back  it  struck  the  Grey  of  Macha  with  a  mortal 
wound.  Cuchulain  drew  out  the  spear  from  the  horse's 
side,  and  they  bade  each  other  farewell,  and  the  Grey 
galloped  away  with  half  the  yoke  hanging  to  its  neck. 

And  a  third  time  Cuchulain  flung  the  spear  to  a  satirist, 
and  Lewy  took  it  again  and  flung  it  back,  and  it  struck 
Cuchulain,  and  his  bowels  fell  out  in  the  chariot,  and 
the  remaining  horse,  Black  Sainglend,  broke  away  and 
left  him. 

"  I  would  fain  go  as  far  as  to  that  loch-side  to  drink," 
said  Cuchulain,  knowing  the  end  was  come,  and  they 
suffered  him  to  go  when  he  had  promised  to  return  to 
them  again.     So  he  gathered  up  his  bowels  into  his 

1  It  was  a  point  of  honour  to  refuse  nothing  to  a  bard;  one  king 
is  said  to  have  given  his  eye  when  it  was  demanded  of  him. 
232 


The  Death  of  Cuchulain 


232 


DEATH  OF  CUCHULAIN 

breast  and  went  to  the  loch-side,  and  drank,  and  bathed 
himself,  and  came  forth  again  to  die.  Now  there  was 
close  by  a  tall  pillar-stone  that  stood  westwards  of  the 
loch,  and  he  went  up  to  it  and  slung  his  girdle  over  it  and 
round  his  breast,  so  that  he  might  die  in  his  standing 
and  not  in  his  lying  down  ;  and  his  blood  ran  down  in 
a  little  stream  into  the  loch,  and  an  otter  came  out  of 
the  loch  and  lapped  it.  And  the  host  gathered  round, 
but  feared  to  approacn  him  while  the  life  was  still  in 
him,  and  the  hero-light  shone  above  his  brow.  Then 
came  the  Grey  of  Macha  to  protect  him,  scattering  his 
foes  with  biting  and  kicking. 

And  then  came  a  crow  and  settled  on  his  shoulder. 

Lewy,  when  he  saw  this,  drew  near  and  pulled  the 
hair  of  Cuchulain  to  one  side  over  his  shoulder, 
and  with  his  sword  he  smote  off  his  head  ;  and  the 
sword  fell  from  Cuchulain's  hand,  and  smote  off  the 
hand  of  Lewy  as  it  fell.  They  took  the  hand  of 
Cuchulain  in  revenge  for  this,  and  bore  the  head  and 
hand  south  to  Tara,  and  there  buried  them,  and  over 
them  they  raised  a  mound.  But  Conall  of  the  Victories, 
hastening  to  Cuchulain's  side  on  the  news  of  the  war, 
met  the  Grey  of  Macha  streaming  with  blood,  and 
together  they  went  to  the  loch-side  and  saw  him  head- 
less and  bound  to  the  pillar-stone,  and  the  horse 
came  and  laid  its  head  on  his  breast.  Conall  drove 
southwards  to  avenge  Cuchulain,  and  he  came  on  Lewy 
by  the  river  Liffey,  and  because  Lewy  had  but  one 
hand  Conall  tied  one  of  his  behind  his  back,  and  for 
half  the  day  they  fought,  but  neither  could  prevail. 
Then  came  Conall's  horse,  the  Dewy-Red,  and  tore  a 
piece  out  of  Lewy's  side,  and  Conall  slew  him,  and 
took  his  head,  and  returned  to  Emain  Macha.  But 
they  made  no  show  of  triumph  in  entering  the  city,  for 
Cuchulain  the  Hound  of  Ulster  was  no  more. 

233 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  Recovery  of  the  Tain 

The  history  of  the  "  Tain,"  or  Cattle  Raid,  of  Quelgny 
was  traditionally  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  no 
other  than  Fergus  mac  Roy,  but  for  a  long  time  the 
great  lay  or  saga  was  lost.  It  was  believed  to  have 
been  written  out  in  Ogham  characters  on  staves  of 
wood,  which  a  bard  who  possessed  them  had  taken  with 
him  into  Italy,  whence  they  never  returned. 

The  recovery  of  the  "  Tain  "  was  the  subject  of  a  number 
of  legends  which  Sir  S.  Ferguson,  in  his  "  Lays  of  the 
Western  Gael,"  has  combined  in  a  poem  of  so  much 
power,  so  much  insight  into  the  spirit  of  Gaelic  myth, 
that  I  venture  to  reproduce  much  of  it  here  in  telling 
this  singular  and  beautiful  story.  It  is  said  that  after 
the  loss  of  the  "Tain  "  Sanchan  Torpest,  chief  bard  of 
Ireland,  was  once  taunted  at  a  feast  by  the  High  King 
Guary  on  his  inability  to  recite  the  most  famous  and 
splendid  of  Gaelic  poems.  This  touched  the  bard  to 
the  quick,  and  he  resolved  to  recover  the  lost  treasure. 
Far  and  wide  through  Erin  and  through  Alba  he 
searched  for  traces  of  the  lay,  but  could  only  recover 
scattered  fragments.  He  would  have  conjured  up  by 
magic  arts  the  spirit  of  Fergus  to  teach  it  to  him, 
even  at  the  cost  of  his  own  life — for  such,  it  seems, 
would  have  been  the  price  demanded  for  the  interven- 
tion and  help  of  the  dead — but  the  place  of  Fergus's 
grave,  where  the  spells  must  be  said,  could  not  be 
discovered.  At  last  Sanchan  sent  his  son  Murgen  with 
his  younger  brother  Eimena  to  journey  to  Italy  and 
endeavour  to  discover  there  the  fate  of  the  staff-book. 
The  brothers  set  off  on  their  journey. 

"  Eastward,  breadthwise,  over  Erin  straightway  travell'd  forth  the 
twain, 
Till  with  many  days'  wayfaring  Murgen  fainted  by  Loch  Ein  : 

234 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE  TAIN 

1  Dear  my  brother,  thou  art  weary  :  I  for  present  aid  am  flown  : 
Thou  for  my  returning  tarry  here  beside  this  Standing  Stone.' 

"  Shone  the  sunset  red  and  solemn  :  Murgen, where  he  leant,observed 
Down  the  corners  of  the  column  letter-strokes  of  Ogham  carved. 
1  'Tis,  belike,  a  burial  pillar,'  said  he,  '  and  these  shallow  lines 
Hold  some  warrior's  name  of  valour,  could  I  rightly  spell  the  signs.' 

"  Letter  then  by  letter  tracing,  soft  he  breathed  the  sound  of  each  ; 
Sound  and  sound  then  interlacing,  lo,  the  signs  took  form  of  speech  ; 
And  with  joy  and  wonder  mainly  thrilling,  part  a-thrill  with  fear, 
Murgen  read  the  legend  plainly,  'Fergus  son  of  Roy  is  here.'" 

Murgen  then,  though  he  knew  the  penalty,  appealed 
to  Fergus  to  pity  a  son's  distress,  and  vowed,  for 
the  sake  of  the  recovery  of  the  "  Tain,"  to  give  his  life, 
and  abandon  his  kin  and  friends  and  the  maiden  he 
loves,  so  that  his  father  might  no  more  be  shamed. 
But  Fergus  gave  no  sign,  and  Murgen  tried  another 
plea  : 

"  Still  he  stirs  not.     Love  of  women  thou  regard'st  not,  Fergus,  now  : 
Love  of  children,  instincts  human,  care  for  these  no  more  hast  thou  : 
Wider  comprehension,  deeper  insights  to  the  dead  belong  : — 
Since  for  Love  thou  wak'st  not,  Sleeper,  yet  awake  for  sake  of  Song. 

"  «  Thou,  the  first  in  rhythmic  cadence  dressing  life's  discordant  tale, 
Wars  of  chiefs  and  loves  of  maidens,  gavest  the  Poem  to  the  Gael  ; 
Now  they've  lost  their  noblest  measure,  and  in  dark  days  hard  at 

hand, 
Song  shall  be  the  only  treasure  left  them  in  their  native  land/ 

"  Fergus  rose.     A  mist  ascended  with  him,  and  a  flash  was  seen 
As  of  brazen  sandals  blended  with  a  mantle's  wafture  green  ; 
But  so  thick  the  cloud  closed  o'er  him,  Eimena,  return'd  at  last, 
Found  not  on  the  field  before  him  but  a  mist-heap  grey  and  vast. 

"  Thrice  to  pierce  the  hoar  recesses  faithful  Eimena  essay'd; 
Thrice  through  foggy  wildernesses  back  to  open  air  he  stray'd  ; 
Till  a  deep  voice  through  the  vapours  fill'd  the  twilight  far  and  near, 
And  the  Night  her  starry  tapers  kindling,  stoop'd  from  heaven  to 
hear. 

23c 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

"  Seem'd  as  though  the  skiey  Shepherd  back  to  earth  had  cast  the  fleece 
Envying  gods  of  old  caught  upward  from  the  darkening  shrines  of 

Greece  ; 
So  the  white  mists  curl'd  and  glisten'd,  so  from  heaven's  expanses 

bare, 
Stars  enlarging  lean'd  and  listen'd  down  the  emptied  depths  of  air. 

"  All  night  long  by  mists  surrounded  Murgen  lay  in  vapoury  bars ; 
All  night  long  the  deep  voice  sounded  'neath  the  keen,  enlarging 

stars : 
But  when,  on  the  orient  verges,  stars  grew  dim  and  mists  retired, 
Rising  by  the  stone  of  Fergus,  Murgen  stood  a  man  inspired. 

"  '  Back  to  Sanchan  ! — Father,  hasten,  ere  the  hour  ot  power  be  past, 
Ask  not  how  obtain'd  but  listen  to  the  lost  lay  found  at  last  !  ' 
4  Yea,  these  words  have  tramp  of  heroes  in  them  ;  and  the  marching 

rhyme 
Rolls  the  voices  of  the  eras  down  the  echoing  steeps  of  Time.' 

"  Not  till  all  was  thrice  related,  thrice  recital  full  essay'd, 
*"  Sad  and  shamefaced,  worn  and  faded,  Murgen  sought  the  faithful 
maid. 
1  Ah,  so  haggard  ;  ah,  so  altered ;  thou  in  life  and  love  so  strong  !  ' 
'  Dearly  purchased,'  Murgen  falter'd,  *  life  and  love  I've  sold  for 
song  ! ' 

" '  Woe  is  me,  the  losing  bargain  !  what  can  song  the  dead  avail  ? ' 
'Fame    immortal,'  murmur'd  Murgen,  'long  as   lay  delights  the 

Gael.' 
'  Fame,  alas  !  the  price  thou  chargest  not  repays  one  virgin  tear.' 
•  Yet  the  proud  revenge  I've  purchased  for  my  sire,  I  deem  not 

dear.' 

•'  So,again  to  Gort  the  splendid, when  the  drinking  boards  were  spread, 
Sanchan,  as  of  old  attended,  came  and  sat  at  table-head. 
'  Bear  the  cup  to  Sanchan  Torpest :  twin  gold  goblets,  Bard,  are 

thine, 
If  with  voice  and  string  thou  harpest,Taiti-Bo-Cuai/gne,Yme  tor  line.' 

" <  Yea,  with  voice  and  string  I'll  chant  it.'     Murgen  to  his  father's 
knee 
Set  the  harp  :   no  prelude  wanted,  Sanchan  struck  the  master  key, 
And,  as  bursts  the  brimful  river  all  at  once  from  caves  of  Cong, 
Forth  at  once,  and  once  for  ever,  leap'd  the  torrent  of  the  song. 

236 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE  TAIN 

"  Floating  on  a  brimful  torrent,  men  go  down  and  banks  go  by  : 
Caught  adown  the  lyric  current,  Guary,  captured,  ear  and  eye, 
Heard  no  more  the  courtiers  jeering,  saw  no  more  the  walls  of  Gort, 
Creeve  Roe's  1  meads  instead  appearing,  and  Emania's  royal  fort. 

"  Vision  chasing  splendid  vision,  Sanchan  roll'd  the  rhythmic  scene  ; 
They  that  mock'd  in  lewd  derision  now,  at  gaze,  with  wondering 

mien 
Sate,  and,  as  the  glorying  master  sway'd  the  tightening  reins  of  song, 
Felt  emotion's  pulses  faster — fancies  faster  bound  along. 

"  Pity  dawn'd  on  savage  faces,  when  for  love  of  captive  Crunn, 
Macha,  in  the  ransom-races,  girt  her  gravid  loins,  to  run 
'Gainst  the  fleet  Ultonian  horses;  and,  when  Deirdra  on  the  road 
Headlong  dash'd  her  'mid  the  corses,  brimming  eyelids  overflow'd. 

"  Light  of  manhood's  generous  ardour,  under  brows  relaxing  shone, 
When,  mid-ford,  on  Uladh's  border,  young  Cuchullin  stood  alone, 
Maev  and  all  her  hosts  withstanding  : — '  Now,  for  love  of  knightly 

play, 
Yield  the  youth  his  soul's  demanding ;  let  the  hosts  their  marchings 

stay, 

"  '  Till  the  death  he  craves  be  given  ;  and,  upon  his  burial  stone 
Champion-praises  duly  graven,  make  his  name  and  glory  known ; 
For,  in  speech-containing  token,  age  to  ages  never  gave 
Salutation  better  spoken,  than,  "  Behold  a  hero's  grave."  ' 

"  What,  another  and  another,  and  he  still   or  combat  calls  ? 
Ah,  the  lot  on  thee,  his  brother  sworn  in  arms,  Ferdia,  falls  ; 
And  the  hall  with  wild  applauses  sobb'd  like  woman  ere  they  wist, 
When  the  champions  in  the  pauses  of  the  deadly  combat  kiss'd. 

"  Now,  for  love  of  land  and  cattle,  while  Cuchullin  in  the  fords 
Stays  the  march  of  Connaught's  battle,  ride  and  rouse  the  Northern 

Lords ; 
Swift  as  angry  eagles  wing  them  toward  the  plunder'd  eyrie's  call, 
Thronging  from  Dun  Dealga  bring  them,  bring  them  from  the  Red 

Branch  hall  ! 

1   Ctaobh  Ruadh — the  Red  Branch  hostel. 

237 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

"  Heard  ye  not  the  tramp  of  armies  ?     Hark  !  amid  the  sudden  gloom, 
'Twas  the  stroke  of  ConalPs  war-mace  sounded  through  the  startled 

room  ; 
And,  while  still  the  hall  grew  darker,  king  and  courtier  chill'd 

with  dread, 
Heard  the  rattling  of  the  war-car  of  Cuchullin  overhead. 

"  Half  in  wonder,  half  in  terror,  loth  to  stay  and  loth  to  fly, 
Seem'd  to  each  beglamour'd  hearer  shades  of  kings  went  thronging 

by: 
But  the  troubled  joy  of  wonder  merged  at  last  in  mastering  fear, 
As  they  heard  through  pealing  thunder,  '  Fergus  son  of  Roy  is 

here  !  ' 

"  Brazen-sandall'd,  vapour-shrouded,  moving  in  an  icy  blast, 
Through  the  doorway  terror-crowded,  up  the  tables  Fergus  pass'd  : — 
*  Stay  thy  hand,  oh  harper,  pardon  !   cease  the  wild  unearthly  lay  ! 
Murgen,  bear  thy  sire  his  guerdon.'     Murgen  sat,  a  shape  of  clay. 

"  '  Bear  him  on  his  bier  beside  me  :  never  more  in  halls  of  Gort 
Shall  a  niggard  king  deride  me  :  slaves,  of  Sanchan  make  their  sport ! 
But  because  the  maiden's  yearnings  needs  must  also  be  condoled, 
Hers  shall  be  the  dear-bought  earnings,  hers  the  twin-bright  cups 
of  gold.' 

"  '  Cups,'  she  cried,  '  of  bitter  drinking,  fling  them  far  as  arm  can 

throw  ! 
Let  them  in  the  ocean  sinking,  out  of  sight  and  memory  go! 
Let  the  joinings  of  the  rhythm,  let  the  links  of  sense  and  sound 
Of  the  Tain-Bo  perish  with  them,  lost  as  though  they'd   ne'er 

been  found  ! ' 

"  So  it  comes,  the  lay,  recover'd  once  at  such  a  deadly  cost, 
Ere  one  full  recital  suffer'd,  once  again  is  all  but  lost  : 
For,  the  maiden's  malediction  still  with  many  a  blemish-stain 
Clings  in  coarser  garb  of  fiction  round  the  fragments  that  remain." 


The  Phantom  Chariot  of  Cuchulain 

Cuchulain,  however,  makes  an  impressive  reappearance 
in  a  much  later  legend  of  Christian  origin,  found  in  the 
twelfth-century  "Book  of  the  Dun  Cow."  He  was 
summoned  from  Hell,  We  are  told,  by  St.  Patrick  to  prove 
238 


DEATH  OF  CONOR  MAC  NESSA 
the  truths  of  Christianity  and  the  horrors  of  damna- 
tion to  the  pagan  monarch,  Laery  mac  Neill,  King  of 
Ireland.  Laery,  with  St.  Benen,  a  companion  of  Patrick, 
are  standing  on  the  Plain  of  mac  Indoc  when  a  blast 
of  icy  wind  nearly  takes  them  off  their  feet.  It  is  the 
wind  of  Hell,  Benen  explains,  after  its  opening  before 
Cuchulain.  Then  a  dense  mist  covers  the  plain,  and 
anon  a  huge  phantom  chariot  with  galloping  horses,  a 
grey  and  a  black,  loom  up  through  the  mist.  Within 
it  are  the  famous  two,  Cuchulain  and  his  charioteer, 
giant  figures,  armed  with  all  the  splendour  of  the  Gaelic 
warrior. 

Cuchulain  then  talks  to  Laery,  and  urges  him  to 
"  believe  in  God  and  in  holy  Patrick,  for  it  is  not  a 
demon  that  has  come  to  thee,  but  Cuchulain  son  of 
Sualtam."  To  prove  his  identity  he  recounts  his  famous 
deeds  of  arms,  and  ends  by  a  piteous  description  of  his 
present  state  : 

"  What  I  suffered  of  trouble, 
O  Laery,  by  sea  and  land — 
Yet  more  severe  was  a  single  night 
When  the  demon  was  wrathful  ! 
Great  as  was  my  heroism, 
Hard  as  was  my  sword, 
The  devil  crushed  me  with  one  finger 
Into  the  red  charcoal  !  " 

He  ends  by  beseeching  Patrick  that  heaven  may  be 
granted  to  him,  and  the  legend  tells  that  the  prayer 
was  granted  and  that  Laery  believed. 

Death  of  Conor  mac  Nessa 

Christian  ideas  have  also  gathered  round  the  end  of 
Cuchulain's  lord,  King  Conor  of  Ulster.  The  manner 
of  his  death  was  as  follows  :  An  unjust  and  cruel  attack 
had  been  made  by  him  on  Mesgedra,  King  of  Leinster, 

239 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

in  which  that  monarch  met  his  death  at  the  hand  of 
Conall  of  the  Victories.1     Conall  took  out  the  brains 
of  the  dead  king  and  mingled  them  with  lime  to  make 
a  sling-stone — such  "  brain  balls,"  as  they  were  called, 
being  accounted  the  most  deadly  of  missiles.     This  ball 
was   laid   up   in   the    king's   treasure-house   at  Emain 
Macha,   where    the   Connacht    champion,   Ket    son   of 
Maga,  found  it  one   day  when   prowling   in   disguise 
through  Ulster.     Ket  took  it  away  and  kept  it  always 
by  him.     Not  long  thereafter  the  Connacht  men  took  a 
spoil  of  cattle  from  Ulster,  and  the  Ulster  men,  under 
Conor,    overtook    them    at    a    river-ford    still    called 
Athnurchar  (The  Ford  of  the  Sling-cast),  in  Westmeath. 
A  battle   was   imminent,   and   many   of  the  ladies  of 
Connacht  came  to  their  side  of  the  river  to  view  the 
famous  Ultonian   warriors,  and   especially   Conor,  the 
stateliest  man  of  his  time.     Conor  was  willing  to  show 
himself,  and  seeing  none  but  women  on  the  other  bank 
he   drew  near  them  ;    but  Ket,   who  was   lurking   in 
ambush,  now  rose  and  slung  the  brain-ball  at  Conor, 
striking  him  full  in  the  forehead.     Conor  fell,  and  was 
carried  off  by  his  routed  followers.     When  they  got 
him  home,  still  living,  to  Emain  Macha,  his  physician, 
Fingen,  pronounced  that  if  the  ball  were  extracted  from 
his  head  he  must  die  ;  it  was  accordingly  sewn  up  with 
golden  thread,  and  the  king  was  bidden  to  keep  him- 
self from  horse-riding  and  from  all  vehement  passion 
and  exertion,  and  he  would  do  well. 

Seven  years  afterwards  Conor  saw  the  sun  darken  at 
noonday,  and  he  summoned  his  Druid  to  tell  him  the 
cause  of  the  portent.  The  Druid,  in  a  magic  trance, 
tells  him  of  a  hill  in  a  distant  land  on  which  stand 
three  crosses  with  a  human  form  nailed  to  each  of  them, 
and   one  of  them  is  like  the   Immortals.     "  Is   he   a 

1  The  story  is  told  in  full  in  the  author's  "  High  Deeds  of  Finn." 
240 


KET  AND  THE  BOAR  OF  MAC  DATHO 

malefactor  ? "  then  asks  Conor.  "  Nay,"  says  the 
Druid,  but  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  and  he  relates 
to  the  king  the  story  of  the  death  of  Christ.  Conor 
breaks  out  in  fury,  and  drawing  his  sword  he  hacks  at 
the  oak-trees  in  the  sacred  grove,  crying,  "  Thus  would 
1  deal  with  his  enemies,"  when  with  the  excitement  and 
exertion  the  brain-ball  bursts  from  his  head,  and  he 
falls  dead.  And  thus  was  the  vengeance  of  Mesgedra 
fulfilled.  With  Conor  and  with  Cuchulain  the  glory  of 
the  Red  Branch  and  the  dominance  of  Ulster  passed 
away.  The  next,  or  Ossianic,  cycle  of  Irish  legend  brings 
upon  the  scene  different  characters,  different  physical 
surroundings,  and  altogether  different  ideals  of  life. 

Ket  and  the  Boar  of  mac  Datho 

The  Connacht  champion  Ket,  whose  main  exploit 
was  the  wounding  of  King  Conor  at  Ardnurchar,  figures 
also  in  a  very  dramatic  tale  entitled  "The  Carving  of 
mac  Datho's  Boar."     The  story  runs  as  follows  : 

Once  upon  a  time  there  dwelt  in  the  province  of 
Leinster  a  wealthy  hospitable  lord  named  Mesroda,  son 
of  Datho.  Two  possessions  had  he  ;  namely,  a  hound 
which  could  outrun  every  other  hound  and  every  wild 
beast  in  Erin,  and  ai  boar  which  was  the  finest  and 
greatest  in  size  that  man  had  ever  beheld. 

Now  the  fame  of  this  hound  was  noised  all  about  the 
land,  and  many  were  the  princes  and  lords  who  longed 
to  possess  it.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  Conor  King  of 
Ulster  and  Maev  Queen  of  Connacht  sent  messengers  to 
mac  Datho  to  ask  him  to  sell  them  the  hound  for  a  price, 
and  both  the  messengers  arrived  at  the  dun  of  mac 
Datho  on  the  same  day.  Said  the  Connacht  messenger  : 
"  We  will  give  thee  in  exchange  for  the  hound  six 
nundred  milch  cows,  and  a  chariot  with  two  horses,  the 
best  that  are  to  be  found  in  Connacht,  and  at  the  end 

q  241 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

of  a  year  thou  shalt  have  as  much  again."  And  the 
messenger  of  King  Conor  said  :  "  We  will  give  no  less 
than  Connacht,  and  the  friendship  and  alliance  of  Ulster, 
and  that  will  be  better  for  thee  than  the  friendship  of 
Connacht." 

Then  Mesroda  mac  Datho  fell  silent,  and  for  three 
days  he  would  not  eat  or  drink,  nor  could  he  sleep  o' 
nights,  but  tossed  restlessly  on  his  bed.  His  wife 
observed  his  condition,  and  said  to  him  :  "  Thy  fast  hath 
been  long,  Mesroda,  though  good  food  is  by  thee  in 
plenty  ;  and  at  night  thou  turnest  thy  face  to  the  wall, 
and  well  I  know  thou  dost  not  sleep.  What  is  the 
cause  of  thy  trouble  ?  " 

"There  is  a  saying,"  replied  Mac  Datho,  "'Trust 
not  a  thrall  with  money,  nor  a  woman  with  a  secret.' ' 

"  When  should  a  man  talk  to  a  woman,"  said  his  wife, 
"  but  when  something  were  amiss  ?  What  thy  mind 
cannot  solve  perchance  another's  may." 

Then  mac  Datho  told  his  wife  of  the  request  for  his 
hound  both  from  Ulster  and  from  Connacht  at  one  and 
the  same  time.  "  And  whichever  of  them  I  deny,"  he 
said,  "they  will  harry  my  cattle  and  slay  my  people." 

"Then  hear  my  counsel,"  said  the  woman.  "Give 
it  to  both  of  them,  and  bid  them  come  and  fetch  it  ; 
and  if  there  be  any  harrying  to  be  done,  let  them  even 
harry  each  other  ;  but  in  no  way  mayest  thou  keep  the 
hound." 

Mac  Datho  followed  this  wise  counsel,  and  bade  both 
Ulster  and  Connacht  to  a  great  feast  on  the  same  day, 
saying  to  each  of  them  that  they  could  have  the  hound 
afterwards. 

So  on  the  appointed  day  Conor  of  Ulster,  and  Maev, 
and  their  retinues  of  princes  and  mighty  men  assembled 
at  the  dun  of  mac  Datho.  There  they  found  a  great 
feast  set  forth,  and  to  provide  the  chief  dish  mac  Datho 
242 


KET  AND  THE  BOAR  OF  MAC  DATHO 

had  killed  his  famous  boar,  a  beast  of  enormous  size. 
The  question  now  arose  as  to  who  should  have  the 
honourable  task  of  carving  it,  and  Bricriu  of  the  Poisoned 
Tongue  characteristically,  for  the  sake  of  the  strife  which 
he  loved,  suggested  that  the  warriors  of  Ulster  and 
Connacht  should  compare  their  principal  deeds  of  arms, 
and  give  the  carving  of  the  boar  to  him  who  seemed  to 
have  done  best  in  the  border-fighting  which  was  always 
going  on  between  the  provinces.  After  much  bandying 
of  words  and  of  taunts  Ket  son  of  Maga  arises  and 
stands  over  the  boar,  knife  in  hand,  challenging  each  of 
the  Ulster  lords  to  match  his  deeds  of  valour.  One 
after  another  they  arise,  Cuscrid  son  of  Conor,  Keltchar, 
Moonremur,  Laery  the  Triumphant,  and  others — 
Cuchulain  is  not  introduced  in  this  story — and  in  each 
case  Ket  has  some  biting  tale  to  tell  of  an  encounter  in 
which  he  has  come  ofF  better  than  they,  and  one  by 
one  they  sit  down  shamed  and  silenced.  At  last  a  shout 
of  welcome  is  heard  at  the  door  of  the  hall  and  the  Ulster- 
men  grow  jubilant:  Conall  of  the  Victories  has  appeared 
on  the  scene.  He  strides  up  to  the  boar,  and  Ket  and 
he  greet  each  other  with  chivalrous  courtesy : 

"  And  now  welcome  to  thee,  O  Conall,  thou  of  the 
iron  heart  and  fiery  blood  ;  keen  as  the  glitter  of  ice, 
ever-victorious  chieftain  ;  hail,  mighty  son  of  Finn- 
choom  !  "  said  Ket. 

And  Conall  said  :  "  Hail  to  thee,  Ket,  flower  of  heroes, 
lord  of  chariots,  a  raging  sea  in  battle  ;  a  strong,  majestic 
bull  ;  hail,  son  of  Maga  !  " 

"And  now,"  went  on  Conall,  "  rise  up  from  the  boar 
and  give  me  place." 

"Why  so?"  replied  Ket. 

"Dost  thou  seek  a  contest  from  me  ?"  said  Conall. 
"  Verily  thou  shalt  have  it.  By  the  gods  of  my  nation 
I  swear  that  since  I  first  took  weapons  in   my  hand   I 

243 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

have  never  passed  one  day  that  I  did  not  slay  a  Connacht 
man,  nor  one  night  that  I  did  not  make  a  foray  on  them, 
nor  have  I  ever  slept  but  I  had  the  head  of  a  Connacht 
man  under  my  knee." 

"  I  confess,"  then  said  Ket,  "  that  thou  art  a  better 
man  than  I,  and  I  yield  thee  the  boar.  But  if  Anluan 
my  brother  were  here,  he  would  match  thee  deed  for 
deed,  and  sorrow  and  shame  it  is  that  he  is  not." 

"  Anluan  is  here,"  shouted  Conall,  and  with  that  he 
drew  from  his  girdle  the  head  of  Anluan  and  dashed  it 
in  the  face  of  Ket. 

Then  all  sprang  to  their  feet  and  a  wild  shouting  and 
tumult  arose,  and  the  swords  flew  out  of  themselves, 
and  battle  raged  in  the  hall  of  mac  Datho.  Soon  the 
hosts  burst  out  through  the  doors  of  the  dun  and  smote 
and  slew  each  other  in  the  open  field,  until  the  Connacht 
host  were  put  to  flight.  The  hound  of  mac  Datho 
pursued  the  chariot  of  King  Ailell  of  Connacht  till  the 
charioteer  smote  off  its  head,  and  so  the  cause  of  con- 
tention was  won  by  neither  party,  and  mac  Datho  lost 
his  hound,  but  saved  his  lands  and  life. 

The  Death  of  Ket 

The  death  of  Ket  is  told  in  Keating's  "  History  of 
Ireland."  Returning  from  a  foray  in  Ulster,  he  was  over- 
taken by  Conall  at  the  place  called  the  Ford  of  Ket,  and 
they  fought  long  and  desperately.  At  last  Ket  was  slain, 
but  Conall  of  the  Victories  was  in  little  better  case,  and 
lay  bleeding  to  death  when  another  Connacht  champion 
named  Bealchu1  found  him.  "Kill  me,"  said  Conall 
to  him,  "  that  it  be  not  said  I  fell  at  the  hand  of  one 
Connacht  man."  But  Bealchu  said  :  "  I  will  not  slay  a 
man  at  the  point  of  death,  but  I  will  bring  thee  home 
and  heal  thee,  and  when  thy  strength  is  come  again 

1  Pronounced  "  Bay-al-koo." 
244 


Forbay  and  Queen  Maev 


244 


THE  DEATH  OF  MAEV 

thou  shalt  fight  with  me  in  single  combat."  Then 
Bealchu  put  Conall  on  a  litter  and  brought  him  home, 
and  had  him  tended  till  his  wounds  were  healed. 

The  three  sons  of  Bealchu,  however,  when  they  saw 
what  the  Ulster  champion  was  like  in  all  his  might, 
resolved  to  assassinate  him  before  the  combat  should 
take  place.  By  a  stratagem  Conall  contrived  that  they 
slew  their  own  father  instead  ;  and  then,  taking  the  heads 
of  the  three  sons,  he  went  back,  victoriously  as  he  was 
wont,  to  Ulster. 

The  Death  of  Maev 

The  tale  of  the  death  of  Queen  Maev  is  also  preserved 
by  Keating.  Fergus  mac  Roy  having  been  slain  by 
Ailell  with  a  cast  of  a  spear  as  he  bathed  in  a  lake  with 
Maev,  and  Ailell  having  been  slain  by  Conall,  Maev 
retired  to  an  island1  on  Loch  Ryve,  where  she  was  wont 
to  bathe  early  every  morning  in  a  pool  near  to  the  landing- 
place.  Forbay  son  of  Conor  mac  Nessa,  having  dis- 
covered this  habit  of  the  queen's,  found  means  one  day 
to  go  unperceived  to  the  pool  and  to  measure  the  distance 
from  it  to  the  shore  of  the  mainland.  Then  he  went 
back  to  Emania,  where  he  measured  out  the  distance  thus 
obtained,  and  placing  an  apple  on  a  pole  at  one  end  he 
shot  at  it  continually  with  a  sling  until  he  grew  so  good 
a  marksman  at  that  distance  that  he  never  missed  his 
aim.  Then  one  day,  watching  his  opportunity  by  the 
shores  of  Loch  Ryve,  he  saw  Maev  enter  the  water,  and 
putting  a  bullet  in  his  sling  he  shot  at  her  with  so  good 
an  aim  that  he  smote  her  in  the  centre  of  the  forehead 
and  she  fell  dead. 

The  great  warrior-queen  had  reigned  in  Connacht,  it 
was  said,  for  eighty-eight  years.    She  is  a  signal  example 

1  Inis  Clothrann,  now  known  as  Quaker's  Island.  The  pool  no 
longer  exists. 

245 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

of  the  kind  of  women  whom  the  Gaelic  bards  delighted  to 
portray.  Gentleness  and  modesty  were  by  no  means 
their  usual  characteristics,  but  rather  a  fierce  overflowing 
life.  Women-warriors  like  Skatha  and  Aifa  are  frequently 
met  with,  and  one  is  reminded  of  the  Gaulish  women, 
with  their  mighty  snow-white  arms,  so  dangerous  to 
provoke,  of  whom  classical  writers  tell  us.  The  Gaelic 
bards,  who  in  so  many  ways  anticipated  the  ideas  of 
chivalric  romance,  did  not  do  so  in  setting  women  in  a 
place  apart  from  men.  Women  were  judged  and  treated 
like  men,  neither  as  drudges  nor  as  goddesses,  and  we 
know  that  well  into  historic  times  they  went  with  men 
into  battle,  a  practice  only  ended  in  the  sixth  century. 

Fergus  mac  Leda  and  the  Wee  Folk 

Of  the  stories  of  the  Ultonian  Cycle  which  do  not 
centre  on  the  figure  of  Cuchulain,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  is  that  of  Fergus  mac  Leda  and  the  King  of 
the  Wee  Folk.  In  this  tale  Fergus  appears  as  King  of 
Ulster,  but  as  he  was  contemporary  with  Conor  mac 
Nessa,  and  in  the  Cattle  Raid  of  Quelgny  is  repre- 
sented as  following  him  to  war,  we  must  conclude  that 
he  was  really  a  sub-king,  like  Cuchulain  or  Owen  of 
Ferney. 

The  tale  opens  in  Faylinn,  or  the  Land  of  the  Wee 
Folk,  a  race  of  elves  presenting  an  amusing  parody  of 
human  institutions  on  a  reduced  scale,  but  endowed 
(like  dwarfish  people  generally  in  the  literature  of 
primitive  races)  with  magical  powers.  Iubdan,1  the 
King  of  Faylinn,  when  flushed  with  wine  at  a  feast,  is 
bragging  of  the  greatness  of  his  power  and  the  invinci- 
bility of  his  armed  forces — have  they  not  the  strong 
man  Glower,  who  with  his  axe  has  been  known  to  hew 
down   a   thistle  at  a  stroke  ?      But    the    king's    bard, 

1  "Youb'dan." 
246 


FERGUS  MAC  LEDA  AND  THE  WEE  FOLK 

Eisirt,  has  heard  something  of  a  giant  race  oversea  in 
a  land  called  Ulster,  one  man  of  whom  would  anni- 
hilate a  whole  battalion  of  the  Wee  Folk,  and  he 
incautiously  allows  himself  to  hint  as  much  to  the 
boastful  monarch.  He  is  immediately  clapped  into 
prison  for  his  audacity,  and  only  gets  free  by  pro- 
mising to  go  immediately  to  the  land  of  the  mighty 
men,  and  bring  back  evidence  of  the  truth  of  his 
incredible  story. 

So  off  he  goes  ;  and  one  fine  day  King  Fergus  and 
his  lords  find  at  the  gate  of  their  Dun  a  tiny  little  fellow 
magnificently  clad  in  the  robes  of  a  royal  bard,  who 
demands  entrance.  He  is  borne  in  upon  the  hand  of 
^Eda,  the  king's  dwarf  and  bard,  and  after  charming  the 
court  by  his  wise  and  witty  sayings,  and  receiving  a 
noble  largesse,  which  he  at  once  distributes  among  the 
poets  and  other  court  attendants  of  Ulster,  he  goes  off 
home,  taking  with  him  as  a  guest  the  dwarf  i£da, 
before  whom  the  Wee  Folk  fly  as  a  "  Fomorian  giant," 
although,  as  Eisirt  explains,  the  average  man  of  Ulster 
can  carry  him  like  a  child.  Iubdan  is  now  convinced, 
but  Eisirt  puts  him  under  geise,  the  bond  of  chivalry 
which  no  Irish  chieftain  can  repudiate  without  being 
shamed,  to  go  himself,  as  Eisirt  has  done,  to  the  palace 
of  Fergus  and  taste  the  king's  porridge.  Iubdan,  after 
he  has  seen  iEda,  is  much  dismayed,  but  he  prepares  to 
go,  and  bids  Bebo,  his  wife,  accompany  him.  "  You 
did  an  ill  deed,"  she  says,  "  when  you  condemned 
Eisirt  to  prison  ;  but  surely  there  is  no  man  under  the 
sun  that  can  make  thee  hear  reason." 

So  off  they  go,  and  Iubdan's  fairy  steed  bears  them 
over  the  sea  till  they  reach  Ulster,  and  by  midnight 
they  stand  before  the  king's  palace.  "  Let  us  taste  the 
porridge  as  we  were  bound,"  says  Bebo,  "  and  make 
off  before    daybreak."      They  steal    in  and   find    the 

247 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Dorridge-pot,  to  the  rim  of  which  Iubdan  can  only 
reach  by  standing  on  his  horse's  back.  In  straining 
downwards  to  get  at  the  porridge  he  overbalances 
himself  and  falls  in.  There  in  the  thick  porridge  he 
sticks  fast,  and  there  Fergus's  scullions  find  him  at 
the  break  of  day,  with  the  faithful  Bebo  lamenting. 
They  bear  him  off  to  Fergus,  who  is  amazed  at  finding 
another  wee  man,  with  a  woman  too,  in  his  palace. 
He  treats  them  hospitably,  but  refuses  all  appeals  to 
let  them  go.  The  story  now  recounts  in  a  spirit  of 
broad  humour  several  Rabelaisian  adventures  in  which 
Bebo  is  concerned,  and  gives  a  charming  poem  sup- 
posed to  have  been  uttered  by  Iubdan  in  the  form  of 
advice  to  Fergus's  fire-gillie  as  to  the  merits  for  burn- 
ing of  different  kinds  of  timber.  The  following  are 
extracts  : 

"  Burn  not  the  sweet  apple-tree  of  drooping  branches,  of  the  white 
blossoms,  to  whose  gracious  head  each  man  puts  forth  his  hand." 

"  Burn  not  the  noble  willow,  the  unfailing  ornament  of  poems  ; 
bees  drink  from  its  blossoms,  all  delight  in  the  graceful  tent." 

"The  delicate,  airy  tree  of  the  Druids,  the  rowan  with  its  berries, 
this  burn ;  but  avoid  the  weak  tree,  burn  not  the  slender  hazel." 

"  The  ash-tree  of  the  black  buds  burn  not — timber  that  speeds 
the  wheel,  that  yields  the  rider  his  switch  ;  the  ashen  spear  is  the 
scale-beam  of  battle." 

At  last  the  Wee  Folk  come  in  a  great  multitude  to 
beg  the  release  of  Iubdan.  On  the  king's  refusal  they 
visit  the  country  with  various  plagues,  snipping  off  the 
ears  of  corn,  letting  the  calves  suck  all  the  cows  dry, 
defiling  the  wells,  and  so  forth  ;  but  Fergus  is  obdurate. 
In  their  quality  as  earth-gods,  dei  terreni^  they  promise 
to  make  the  plains  before  the  palace  of  Fergus  stand 
thick  with  corn  every  year  without  ploughing  or  sowing, 
248 


King  Fergus  and  the  Wee  Man 


248 


DEATH  OF  FERGUS 

but  all  is  vain.  At  last,  however,  Fergus  agrees  to 
ransom  Iubdan  against  the  best  of  his  fairy  treasures, 
so  Iubdan  recounts  them — the  cauldron  that  can  never 
be  emptied,  the  harp  that  plays  of  itself ;  and  finally 
he  mentions  a  pair  of  water -shoes,  wearing  which 
a  man  can  go  over  or  under  water  as  freely  as  on 
dry  land.  Fergus  accepts  the  shoes,  and  Iubdan  is 
released. 

The  Blemish  of  Fergus 

But  it  is  hard  for  a  mortal  to  get  the  better  of  Fairy- 
land— a  touch  of  hidden  malice  lurks  in  magical  gifts, 
and  so  it  proved  now.  Fergus  was  never  tired  of 
exploring  the  depths  of  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  Ireland  ; 
but  one  day,  in  Loch  Rury,  he  met  with  a  hideous 
monster,  the  Muirdris^  or  river-horse,  which  inhabited 
that  lake,  and  from  which  he  barely  saved  himself  by 
flying  to  the  shore.  With  the  terror  of  this  encounter 
his  face  was  twisted  awry  ;  but  since  a  blemished  man 
could  not  hold  rule  in  Ireland,  his  queen  and  nobles 
took  pains,  on  some  pretext,  to  banish  all  mirrors  from 
the  palace,  and  kept  the  knowledge  of  his  condition 
from  him.  One  day,  however,  he  smote  a  bondmaid 
with  a  switch,  for  some  negligence,  and  the  maid,  indig- 
nant, cried  out  :  "  It  were  better  for  thee,  Fergus,  to 
avenge  thyself  on  the  river-horse  that  hath  twisted  thy 
face  than  to  do  brave  deeds  on  women  !  "  Fergus 
bade  fetch  him  a  mirror,  and  looked  in  it.  "It  is  true," 
he  said  ;  "  the  river-horse  of  Loch  Rury  has  done  this 
thing." 

Death  of  Fergus 

The  conclusion  may  be  given  in  the  words  of  Sir 
Samuel  Ferguson's  fine  poem  on  this  theme.     Fergus 

249 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

donned  the  magic  shoes,  took  sword  in  hand,  and  went 

to  Loch  Rury  : 

"  For  a  day  and  night 
Beneath  the  waves  he  rested  out  of  sight, 
But  all  the  Ultonians  on  the  bank  who  stood 
Saw  the  loch  boil  and  redden  with  his  blood. 
When  next  at  sunrise  skies  grew  also  red 
He  rose — and  in  his  hand  the  Muirdris*  head. 
Gone  was  the  blemish !     On  his  goodly  face 
Each  trait  symmetric  had  resumed  its  place  : 
And  they  who  saw  him  marked  in  all  his  mien 
A  king's  composure,  ample  and  serene. 
He  smiled ;  he  cast  his  trophy  to  the  bank, 
Said,  'I,  survivor,  Ulstermen  !'  and  sank." 

This  fine  tale  has  been  published  in  full  from  an 
Egerton  MS.,  by  Mr.  Standish  Hayes  O'Grady,  in  his 
"Silva  Gadelica."  The  humorous  treatment  of  the 
fairy  element  in  the  story  would  mark  it  as  belonging 
to  a  late  period  of  Irish  legend,  but  the  tragic  and 
noble  conclusion  unmistakably  signs  it  as  belonging 
to  the  Ulster  bardic  literature,  and  it  falls  within  the 
same  order  of  ideas,  if  it  were  not  composed  within  the 
same  period,  as  the  tales  of  Cuchulain. 

Significance  of  Irish  PlaccNames 

Before  leaving  this  great  cycle  of  legendary  literature 
let  us  notice  what  has  already,  perhaps,  attracted  the 
attention  of  some  readers — the  extent  to  which  its  chief 
characters  and  episodes  have  been  commemorated  in 
the  still  surviving  place-names  of  the  country.1  This 
is  true  of  Irish  legend  in  general — it  is  especially  so  of 
the  Ultonian  Cycle.  Faithfully  indeed,  through  many 
a  century  of  darkness  and  forgetting,  have  these  names 
pointed  to    the    hidden    treasures  of  heroic   romance 

1  Dr.  P.  W.  Joyce's  "  Irish  Names  of  Places  "  is  a  storehouse  of 
information  on  this  subject. 
250 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  IRISH  PLACE-NAMES 

which  the  labours  of  our  own  day  are  now  restoring  to 
light.  The  name  of  the  little  town  of  Ardee,  as  we 
have  seen,1  commemorates  the  tragic  death  of  Ferdia  at 
the  hand  of  his  "  heart  companion,"  the  noblest  hero  of 
the  Gael.  The  ruins  of  Dan  Baruch,  where  Fergus 
was  bidden  to  the  treacherous  feast,  still  look  over  the 
waters  of  Moyle,  across  which  Naisi  and  Deirdre  sailed 
to  their  doom.  Ardnurchar,  the  Hill  of  the  Sling- 
cast,  in  Westmeath,2  brings  to  mind  the  story  of  the 
stately  monarch,  the  crowd  of  gazing  women,  and  the 
crouching  enemy  with  the  deadly  missile  which  bore 
the  vengeance  of  Mesgedra.  The  name  of  Armagh,  or 
Ard  Macha,  the  Hill  of  Macha,  enshrines  the  memory 
of  the  Fairy  Bride  and  her  heroic  sacrifice,  while  the 
grassy  rampart  can  still  be  traced  where  the  war-goddess 
in  the  earlier  legend  drew  its  outline  with  the  pin  of  her 
brooch  when  she  founded  the  royal  fortress  of  Ulster. 
Many  pages  might  be  filled  with  these  instances.  Per- 
haps no  modern  country  has  place-names  so  charged 
with  legendary  associations  as  are  those  of  Ireland. 
Poetry  and  myth  are  there  still  closely  wedded  to  the 
very  soil  of  the  land — a  fact  in  which  there  lies  ready 
to  hand  an  agency  for  education,  for  inspiration,  of  the 
noblest  kind,  if  we  only  had  the  insight  to  see  it  and 
the  art  to  make  use  of  it. 

1  P.  211,  note. 

2  The  name  is  given  both  to  the  hill,  ard,  and  to  the  ford,  atha 
beneath  it 


251 


CHAPTER  VI :  TALES  OF  THE 
OSSIANIC  CYCLE 

The  Fianna  of  Erin 

AS  the  tales  of  the  Ultonian  Cycle  cluster  round 
the  heroic  figure  of  the  Hound  of  Cullan,  so  do 
those  of  the  Ossianic  Cycle  round  that  of  Finn 
mac  Cumhal,1  whose  son  Oisin2  (or  Ossian,  as  Macpher- 
son  called  him  in  the  pretended  translations  from  the 
Gaelic  which  first  introduced  him  to  the  English-speaking 
world)  was  a  poet  as  well  as  a  warrior,  and  is  the  tradi- 
tional author  of  most  of  them.  The  events  of  the 
Ultonian  Cycle  are  supposed  to  have  taken  place  about 
the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ.  Those  of  the  Ossianic 
Cycle  fell  mostly  in  the  reign  of  Cormac  mac  Art,  who 
lived  in  the  third  century  a.d.  During  his  reign  the 
Fianna  of  Erin,  who  are  represented  as  a  kind  of  military 
Order  composed  mainly  of  the  members  of  two  clans, 
Clan  Bascna  and  Clan  Morna,  and  who  were  supposed 
to  be  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  High  King  and  to 
the  repelling  of  foreign  invaders,  reached  the  height  of 
their  renown  under  the  captaincy  of  Finn. 

The  annalists  of  ancient  Ireland  treated  the  story  of 
Finn  and  the  Fianna,  in  its  main  outlines,  as  sober  history. 
This  it  can  hardly  be.  Ireland  had  no  foreign  invaders 
during  the  period  when  the  Fianna  are  supposed  to  have 
flourished,  and  the  tales  do  not  throw  a  ray  of  light  on 
the  real  history  of  the  country  ;  they  are  far  more 
concerned  with  a  Fairyland  populated  by  supernatural 
beings,  beautiful  or  terrible,  than  with  any  tract  of  real 
earth  inhabited  by  real  men  and  women.  The  modern 
critical  reader  of  these  tales  will  soon  feel  that  it  would 
be  idle  to  seek  for  any  basis  of  fact  in  this  glittering 

1  Pronounced  "  mac  Cool."  2  Pronounced  "  Usheen." 

252 


THE  OSSIANIC  AND  ULTONIAN  CYCLES 

mirage.  But  the  mirage  was  created  by  poets  and  story- 
tellers of  such  rare  gifts  for  this  kind  of  literature  that 
it  took  at  once  an  extraordinary  hold  on  the  imagination 
of  the  Irish  and  Scottish  Gael. 

The  Ossianic  Cycle 

The  earliest  tales  of  this  cycle  now  extant  are  found 
in  manuscripts  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  and 
were  composed  probably  a  couple  of  centuries  earlier. 
But  the  cycle  lasted  in  a  condition  of  vital  growth  for  a 
thousand  years,  right  down  to  Michael  Comyn's  "  Lay 
of  Oisin  in  the  Land  of  Youth,"  which  was  composed 
about  1750,  and  which  ended  the  long  history  of  Gaelic 
literature.1  It  has  been  estimated 2  that  if  all  the  tales 
and  poems  of  the  Ossianic  Cycle  which  still  remain  could 
be  printed  they  |would  fill  some  twenty-five  volumes 
the  size  of  this.  Moreover,  a  very  great  proportion  of  this 
literature,  even  if  there  were  no  manuscripts  at  all,  could 
during  the  last  and  the  preceding  centuries  have  been 
recovered  from  the  lips  of  what  has  been  absurdly  called 
an  "  illiterate  "  peasantry  in  the  Highlands  and  in  the 
Gaelic-speaking  parts  of  Ireland.  It  cannot  but  interest 
us  to  study  the  character  of  the  literature  which  was 
capable  of  exercising  such  a  spell. 

Contrasted  with  the  Ultonian  Cycle 

Let  us  begin  by  saying  that  the  reader  will  find  himselr 
in  an  altogether  different  atmosphere  from  that  in  which 
the  heroes  of  the  Ultonian  Cycle  live  and  move.  Every- 
thing speaks  of  a  later  epoch,  when  life  was  gentler  and 
softer,  when  men  lived  more  in  settlements  and  towns, 

1  Subject,  of  course,  to  the  possibility  that  the  present  revival  of 
Gaelic  as  a  spoken  tongue  may  lead  to  the  opening  of  a  new  chapter 
in  that  history. 

2  Sec  "  Ossian  and  Ossianic  Literature,"  by  Alfred  Nutt,  p.  4. 

253 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

when  the  Danaan  Folk  were  more  distinctly  fairies  and 
less  deities,  when  in  literature  the  elements  of  wonder 
and  romance  predominated,  and  the  iron  string  of 
heroism  and  self-sacrifice  was  more  rarely  sounded. 
There  is  in  the  Ossianic  literature  a  conscious  delight  in 
wild  nature,  in  scenery,  in  the  song  of  birds,  the  music 
of  the  chase  through  the  woods,  in  mysterious  and 
romantic  adventure,  which  speaks  unmistakably  of  a 
time  when  the  free,  open-air  life  "  under  the  greenwood 
tree  "  is  looked  back  on  and  idealised,  but  no  longer 
habitually  lived,  by  those  who  celebrate  it.  There  is 
also  a  significant  change  of  locale.  The  Conorian  tales 
were  the  product  of  a  literary  movement  having  its 
sources  among  the  bleak  hills  or  on  the  stern  rock- 
bound  coasts  of  Ulster.  In  the  Ossianic  Cycle  we  find 
ourselves  in  the  Midlands  or  South  of  Ireland.  Much 
of  the  action  takes  place  amid  the  soft  witchery  of  the 
Killarney  landscape,  and  the  difference  between  the  two 
regions  is  reflected  in  the  ethical  temper  of  the  tales. 

In  the  Ultonian  Cycle  it  will  have  been  noticed  that 
however  extravagantly  the  supernatural  element  may  be 
employed,  the  final  significance  of  almost  every  tale,  the 
end  to  which  all  the  supernatural  machinery  is  worked, 
is  something  real  and  human,  something  that  has  to  do 
with  the  virtues  or  vices,  the  passions  or  the  duties  or 
men  and  women.  In  the  Ossianic  Cycle,  broadly  speak- 
ing, this  is  not  so.  The  nobler  vein  of  literature  seems 
to  have  been  exhausted,  and  we  have  now  beauty  for 
the  sake  of  beauty,  romance  for  the  sake  of  romance, 
horror  or  mystery  for  the  sake  of  the  excitement  they 
arouse.     The  Ossianic  tales  are,  at  their  best, 

"  Lovely  apparitions,  sent 
To  be  a  moment's  ornament." 

They  lack  that  something,  found  in  the  noblest  art  as  in 
254 


THE  COMING  OF  FINN 
the   noblest  personalities,  which   has  power  "to  warn, 
to  comfort,  and  command." 

The  Coming  of  Finn 

King  Cormac  mac  Art  was  certainly  a  historical 
character,  which  is  more,  perhaps,  than  we  can  say  of 
Conor  mac  Nessa.  Whether  there  is  any  real  personage 
behind  the  glorious  figure  of  his  great  captain,  Finn,  it 
is  more  difficult  to  say.  But  for  our  purpose  it  is  not 
necessary  to  go  into  this  question.  He  was  a  creation 
of  the  Celtic  mind  in  one  land  and  in  one  stage  of  its 
development,  and  our  part  here  is  to  show  what  kind 
of  character  the  Irish  mind  liked  to  idealise  and  make 
stories  about. 

Finn,  like  most  of  the  Irish  heroes,  had  a  partly 
Danaan  ancestry.  His  mother,  Murna  of  the  White 
Neck,  was  grand-daughter  of  Nuada  of  the  Silver  Hand, 
who  had  wedded  that  Ethlinn,  daughter  of  Balor  the 
Fomorian,  who  bore  the  Sun-god  Lugh  to  Kian. 
Cumhal  son  of  TrenmOr  was  Finn's  father.  He  was 
chief  of  the  Clan  Bascna,  who  were  contending  with  the 
Clan  Morna  for  the  leadership  of  the  Fianna,  and  was 
overthrown  and  slain  by  these  at  the  battle  of  Knock.1 

Among  the  Clan  Morna  was  a  man  named  Lia,  the 
lord  of  Luachar  in  Connacht,  who  was  Treasurer  of  the 
Fianna,  and  who  kept  the  Treasure  Bag,  a  bag  made  or 
crane's  skin  and  having  in  it  magic  weapons  and  jewels 
of  great  price  that  had  come  down  from  the  days  of  the 
Danaans.  And  he  became  Treasurer  to  the  Clan  Morna, 
and  still  kept  the  bag  at  Rath  Luachar. 

Murna,  after  the  defeat  and  death  of  Cumhal,  took 
refuge  in  the  forests  of  Slieve  Bloom,2  and  there  she 
bore  a  man-child  whom  she  named  Demna.     For  fear 

1  Now  Castleknock,  near  Dublin. 

2  In  the  King's  County. 

255 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

that  the  Clan  Morna  would  find  him  out  and  slay  him, 
she  gave  him  to  be  nurtured  in  the  wildwood  by  two 
aged  women,  and  she  herself  became  wife  to  the  King 
of  Kerry.     But  Demna,  when  he  grew  up  to  be  a  lad, 
was  called  "  Finn,"  or  the  Fair  One,  on  account  of  the 
whiteness  of  his  skin  and  his  golden  hair,  and  by  this 
name  he  was  always  known  thereafter.     His  first  deed 
was  to  slay  Lia,  who  had  the  Treasure  Bag  of  the  Fianna, 
which  he   took  from  him.     He  then  sought   out  his 
uncle  Crimmal,  who,  with  a  few  other  old  men,  survivors 
of  the  chiefs  of  Clan  Bascna,  had  escaped  the  sword  at 
Castleknock,   and    were    living    in    much   penury   and 
affliction  in  the  recesses  of  the   forests  of  Connacht. 
These    he    furnished  with   a  retinue  and  guard   from 
among  a  body  of  youths  who  followed  his  fortunes,  and 
gave   them   the   Treasure  Bag.     He  himself  went  to 
learn  the  accomplishments  of  poetry  and  science  from 
an  ancient  sage  and  Druid  named  Finegas,  who  dwelt 
on  the   river  Boyne.     Here,  in  a  pool  of  this  river, 
under  boughs  of  hazel  from  which  dropped  the  Nuts  of 
Knowledge  on  the  stream,  lived  Fintan  the  Salmon  of 
Knowledge,  which  whoso  ate  of  him  would  enjoy  all 
the  wisdom  of  the  ages.     Finegas  had  sought  many  a 
time  to  catch  this  salmon,  but  failed  until   Finn  had 
come  to  be  his  pupil.     Then  one  day  he  caught  it,  and 
gave  it  to  Finn  to  cook,  bidding  him  eat  none  of  it  him- 
self, but  to  tell  him  when  it  was  ready.     When  the  lad 
brought  the  salmon,  Finegas  saw  that  his  countenance 
was  changed.     "  Hast  thou  eaten  of  the  salmon  ?  "  he 
asked.    "Nay,"  said  Finn,  "but  when  I  turned  it  on  the 
spit  my  thumb  was  burnt,  and  I  put  it  to  my  mouth." 
"  Take  the  Salmon  of  Knowledge  and  eat  it,"  then  said 
Finegas,  "  for  in  thee  the  prophecy  is  come  true.     And 
now  go  hence,  for  I  can  teach  thee  no  more." 

After  that  Finn  became  as  wise  as  he  was  strong  and 
256 


Finn  finds  the  Old  Men  in  the  Forest 


se6 


FINN  AND  THE  GOBLIN 

bold,  and  it  is  said  that  whenever  he  wished  to  divine 
what  would  befall,  or  what  was  happening  at  a  distance, 
he  had  but  to  put  his  thumb  in  his  mouth  and  bite  it, 
and  the  knowledge  he  wished  for  would  be  his. 

Finn  and  the  Goblin 

At  this  time  Goll  son  of  Morna  was  the  captain  of 
the  Fianna  of  Erin,  but  Finn,  being  come  to  man's 
estate,  wished  to  take  the  place  of  his  father  Cumhal. 
So  he  went  to  Tara,  and  during  the  Great  Assembly, 
when  no  man  might  raise  his  hand  against  any  other  in 
the  precincts  of  Tara,  he  sat  down  among  the  king's 
warriors  and  the  Fianna.  At  last  the  king  marked 
him  as  a  stranger  among  them,  and  bade  him  declare 
his  name  and  lineage.  "  I  am  Finn  son  of  Cumhal," 
said  he,  "  and  I  am  come  to  take  service  with  thee, 
O  King,  as  my  father  did."  The  king  accepted  him 
gladly,  and  Finn  swore  loyal  service  to  him.  No  long 
time  after  that  came  the  period  of  the  year  when  Tara 
was  troubled  by  a  goblin  or  demon  that  came  at  night- 
fall and  blew  fire-balls  against  the  royal  city,  setting  it 
in  flames,  and  none  could  do  battle  with  him,  for  as  he 
came  he  played  on  a  harp  a  music  so  sweet  that  each 
man  who  heard  it  was  lapped  in  dreams,  and  forgot  all 
else  on  earth  for  the  sake  of  listening  to  that  music. 
When  this  was  told  to  Finn  he  went  to  the  king  and 
said  :  "  Shall  I,  if  I  slay  the  goblin,  have  my  father's 
place  as  captain  of  the  Fianna  ?"  "Yea,  surely,"  said 
the  king,  and  he  bound  himself  to  this  by  an  oath. 

Now  there  were  among  the  men-at-arms  an  old 
follower  of  Finn's  father,  Cumhal,  who  possessed  a 
magic  spear  with  a  head  of  bronze  and  rivets  of 
Arabian  gold.  The  head  was  kept  laced  up  in  a 
leathern  case  ;  and  it  had  the  property  that  when  the 
naked  blade  was  laid  against  the  forehead  of  a  man  it 

r  257 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

would  fill  him  with  a  strength  and  a  battle-fury  that 
would  make  him  invincible  in  every  combat.  This 
spear  the  man  Fiacha  gave  to  Finn,  and  taught  him 
how  to  use  it,  and  with  it  he  awaited  the  coming  of  the 
goblin  on  the  ramparts  of  Tara.  As  night  fell  and 
mists  began  to  gather  in  the  wide  plain  around  the 
Hill  he  saw  a  shadowy  form  coming  swiftly  towards 
him,  and  heard  the  notes  of  the  magic  harp.  But 
laying  the  spear  to  his  brow  he  shook  off  the  spell,  and 
the  phantom  fled  before  him  to  the  Fairy  Mound  of 
Slieve  Fuad,  and  there  Finn  overtook  and  slew  him, 
and  bore  back  his  head  to  Tara. 

Then  Cormac  the  King  set  Finn  before  the  Fianna, 
and  bade  them  all  either  swear  obedience  to  him  as 
their  captain  or  seek  service  elsewhere.  And  first  of  all 
Goll  mac  Morna  swore  service,  and  then  all  the  rest 
followed,  and  Finn  became  Captain  of  the  Fianna  of 
Erin,  and  ruled  them  till  he  died. 

Finn's  Chief  Men:  Conan  mac  Lia 

With  the  coming  of  Finn  the  Fianna  of  Erin  came  to 
their  glory,  and  with  his  life  their  glory  passed  away. 
For  he  ruled  them  as  no  other  captain  ever  did,  both 
strongly  and  wisely,  and  never  bore  a  grudge  against 
any,  but  freely  forgave  a  man  all  offences  save  disloyalty 
to  his  lord.  Thus  it  is  told  that  Conan,  son  of  the 
lord  of  Luachar,  him  who  had  the  Treasure  Bag  and 
whom  Finn  slew  at  Rath  Luachar,  was  for  seven  years 
an  outlaw  and  marauder,  harrying  the  Fians  and  killing 
here  a  man  and  there  a  hound,  and  firing  dwellings,  and 
raiding  their  cattle.  At  last  they  ran  him  to  a  corner  at 
Cam  Lewy,  in  Munster,  and  when  he  saw  that  he  could 
escape  no  more  he  stole  upon  Finn  as  he  sat  down  after 
a  chase,  and  flung  his  arms  round  him  from  behind, 
holding  him  fast  and  motionless.  Finn  knew  who  held 
258 


CONAN  MAC  MORNA 

him  thus,  and  said  :  "  What  wilt  thou,  Conan  ?  "  Conan 
said :  "  To  make  a  covenant  of  service  and  fealty  with 
thee,  for  I  may  no  longer  evade  thy  wrath."  So  Finn 
laughed  and  said  :  "  Be  it  so,  Conan,  and  if  thou  prove 
faithful  and  valiant  1  also  will  keep  faith."  Conan 
served  him  for  thirty  years,  and  no  man  of  all  the 
Fianna  was  keener  and  hardier  in  fight. 

Conan  mac  Morna 

There  was  also  another  Conan,  namely,  mac  Morna, 
who  was  big  and  bald,  and  unwieldy  in  manly  exercises, 
but  whose  tongue  was  bitter  and  scurrilous  ;  no  high  or 
brave  thing  was  done  that  Conan  the  Bald  did  not 
mock  and  belittle.  It  is  said  that  when  he  was  stripped 
he  showed  down  his  back  and  buttocks  a  black  sheep's 
fleece  instead  of  a  man's  skin,  and  this  is  the  way  it 
came  about.  One  day  when  Conan  and  certain  others 
of  the  Fianna  were  hunting  in  the  forest  they  came  to 
a  stately  dun,  white-walled,  with  coloured  thatching  on 
the  roof,  and  they  entered  it  to  seek  hospitality.  But 
when  they  were  within  they  found  no  man,  but  a 
great  empty  hall  with  pillars  of  cedar-wood  and  silken 
hangings  about  it,  like  the  hall  of  a  wealthy  lord.  In 
the  midst  there  was  a  table  set  forth  with  a  sumptuous 
feast  of  boar's  flesh  and  venison,  and  a  great  vat  of  yew- 
wood  full  of  red  wine,  and  cups  of  gold  and  silver.  So 
they  set  themselves  gaily  to  eat  and  drink,  for  they 
were  hungry  from  the  chase,  and  talk  and  laughter 
were  loud  around  the  board.  But  one  of  them  ere  long 
started  to  his  feet  with  a  cry  of  fear  and  wonder,  and 
they  all  looked  round,  and  saw  before  their  eyes  the 
tapestried  walls  changing  to  rough  wooden  beams,  and 
the  ceiling  to  foul  sooty  thatch  like  that  of  a  herdsman's 
hut.  So  they  knew  they  were  being  entrapped  by  some 
enchantment  of  the  Fairy  Folk,  and  all  sprang  to  their 

259 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

feet  and  made  for  the  doorway,  that  was  no  longer 
high  and  stately,  but  was  shrinking  to  the  size  of  a  fox 
earth — all  but  Conan  the  Bald,  who  was  gluttonously 
devouring  the  good  things  on  the  table,  and  heeded 
nothing  else.  Then  they  shouted  to  him,  and  as  the 
last  of  them  went  out  he  strove  to  rise  and  follow,  but 
found  himself  limed  to  the  chair  so  that  he  could  not 
stir.  So  two  of  the  Fianna,  seeing  his  plight,  rushed 
back  and  seized  his  arms  and  tugged  with  all  their 
might,  and  as  they  dragged  him  away  they  left  the 
most  part  of  his  raiment  and  his  skin  sticking  to  the 
chair.  Then,  not  knowing  what  else  to  do  with  him 
in  his  sore  plight,  they  clapped  upon  his  back  the  nearest 
thing  they  could  find,  which  was  the  skin  of  a  black  sheep 
that  they  took  from  a  peasant's  flock  hard  by,  and  it 
grew  there,  and  Conan  wore  it  till  his  death. 

Though  Conan  was  a  coward  and  rarely  adventured 
himself  in  battle  with  the  Fianna,  it  is  told  that  once  a 
good  man  fell  by  his  hand.  This  was  on  the  day  of 
the  great  battle  with  the  pirate  horde  on  the  Hill  of 
Slaughter  in  Kerry.1  For  Liagan,  one  of  the  invaders, 
stood  out  before  the  hosts  and  challenged  the  bravest 
of  the  Fians  to  single  combat,  and  the  Fians  in  mockery 
thrust  Conan  forth  to  the  fight.  When  he  appeared 
Liagan  laughed,  for  he  had  more  strength  than  wit,  and 
he  said  :  "  Silly  is  thy  visit,  thou  bald  old  man."  And 
as  Conan  still  approached  Liagan  lifted  his  hand 
fiercely,  and  Conan  said  :  "  Truly  thou  art  in  more 
peril  from  the  man  behind  than  from  the  man  in 
front."  Liagan  looked  round  ;  and  in  that  instant 
Conan  swept  off  his  head,  and  then  threw  his  sword 
and  ran  for  shelter  to  the  ranks  of  the  laughing 
Fians.  But  Finn  was  very  wroth  because  he  had  won 
the  victory  by  a  trick. 

1  The  hill  still  bears  the  name,  Knockanar. 
260 


"Finn  heard  the  notes  of  the  magic   harp 


260 


OSCAR 

Dermot  O'Dyna 

And  one  of  the  chiefest  of  the  friends  of  Finn  was 
Dermot  of  the  Love  Spot.  He  was  so  fair  and  noble 
to  look  on  that  no  woman  could  refuse  him  love,  and 
it  was  said  that  he  never  knew  weariness,  but  his  step 
was  as  light  at  the  end  of  the  longest  day  of  battle  or 
the  chase  as  it  was  at  the  beginning.  Between  him 
and  Finn  there  was  great  love,  until  the  day  when 
Finn,  then  an  old  man,  was  to  wed  Grania,  daughter 
of  Cormac  the  High  King  ;  but  Grania  bound  Dermot 
by  the  sacred  ordinances  of  the  Fian  chivalry  to  fly 
with  her  on  her  wedding  night,  which  thing,  sorely 
against  his  will,  he  did,  and  thereby  got  his  death. 
But  Grania  went  back  to  Finn,  and  when  the  Fianna 
saw  her  they  laughed  through  all  the  camp  in  bitter 
mockery,  for  they  would  not  have  given  one  of  the 
dead  man's  fingers  for  twenty  such  as  Grania. 

Keelta  mac  Ronan  and  Oisin 

Another  of  the  chief  men  that  Finn  had  was  Keelta 
mac  Ronan,  who  was  one  of  his  house-stewards,  and 
a  strong  warrior  as  well  as  a  golden-tongued  reciter 
of  tales  and  poems.  And  there  was  Oisin,  the  son 
of  Finn,  the  greatest  poet  of  the  Gael,  of  whom  more 
shall  be  told  hereafter. 

Oscar 

Oisin  had  a  son,  Oscar,  who  was  the  fiercest  fighter 
in  battle  among  all  the  Fians.  He  slew  in  his  maiden 
battle  three  kings,  and  in  his  fury  he  also  slew  by 
mischance  his  own  friend  and  condisciple  Linne.  His 
wife  was  the  fair  Aideen,  who  died  of  grief  after  Oscar's 
death  in  the  battle  of  Gowra,  and  Oisin  buried  her  on 
Ben   Edar    (Howth),   and  raised  over   her    the  great 

261 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

dolmen  which  is  there  to  this  day.  Oscar  appears  in 
this  literature  as  a  type  of  hard  strength,  with  a  heart 
"like  twisted  horn  sheathed  in  steel,"  a  character  made 
as  purely  for  war  as  a  sword  or  spear. 

Geena  mac  Luga 

Another  good  man  that  Finn  had  was  Geena,  the  son 
of  Luga ;  his  mother  was  the  warrior-daughter  of  Finn, 
and  his  father  was  a  near  kinsman  of  hers.  He  was 
nurtured  by  a  woman  that  bore  the  name  of  Fair  Mane, 
who  had  brought  up  many  of  the  Fianna  to  manhood. 
When  his  time  to  take  arms  was  come  he  stood  before 
Finn  and  made  his  covenant  of  fealty,  and  Finn  gave 
him  the  captaincy  of  a  band.  But  mac  Luga  proved 
slothful  and  selfish,  for  ever  vaunting  himself  and  his 
weapon-skill,  and  never  training  his  men  to  the  chase 
of  deer  or  boar,  and  he  used  to  beat  his  hounds  and  his 
serving-men.  At  last  the  Fians  under  him  came  with 
their  whole  company  to  Finn  at  Loch  Lena,  in  Killarney, 
and  there  they  laid  their  complaint  against  mac  Luga, 
and  said  :  "Choose  now,  O  Finn,  whether  you  will  have 
us  or  the  son  of  Luga  by  himself." 

Then  Finn  sent  to  mac  Luga  and  questioned  him, 
but  mac  Luga  could  say  nothing  to  the  point  as  to 
why  the  Fianna  would  none  of  him.  Then  Finn 
taught  him  the  things  befitting  a  youth  of  noble  birth 
and  a  captain  of  men,  and  they  were  these  : 

Maxims  of  the  Fianna 

"  Son  of  Luga,  if  armed  service  be  thy  design,  in  a 
great  man's  household  be  quiet,  be  surly  in  the  narrow 
pass. 

"  Without  a  fault  of  his  beat  not  thy  hound  ;  until 
thou  ascertain  her  guilt,  bring  not  a  charge  against  thy 
wife. 
262 


MAXIMS  OF  THE  FIANNA 

"In  battle  meddle  not  with  a  buffoon,  for,  O  mac 
Luga,  he  is  but  a  fool. 

"  Censure  not  any  if  he  be  of  grave  repute  ;  stand 
not  up  to  take  part  in  a  brawl  ;  have  naught  to  do  with 
a  madman  or  a  wicked  one. 

"Two-thirds  of  thy  gentleness  be  shown  to  women 
and  to  those  that  creep  on  the  floor  (little  children) 
and  to  poets,  and  be  not  violent  to  the  common 
people. 

"  Utter  not  swaggering  speech,  nor  say  thou  wilt 
not  yield  what  is  right  ;  it  is  a  shameful  thing  to  speak 
too  stiffly  unless  that  it  be  feasible  to  carry  out  thy 
words. 

"  So  long  as  thou  shalt  live,  thy  lord  forsake  not ; 
neither  for  gold  nor  for  other  reward  in  the  world 
abandon  one  whom  thou  art  pledged  to  protect. 

"To  a  chief  do  not  abuse  his  people,  for  that  is  no 
work  for  a  man  of  gentle  blood. 

"  Be  no  tale-bearer,  nor  utterer  of  falsehoods  ;  be 
not  talkative  nor  rashly  censorious.  Stir  not  up  strife 
against  thee,  however  good  a  man  thou  be. 

"Be  no  frequenter  of  the  drinking-house,  nor  given 
to  carping  at  the  old  ;  meddle  not  with  a  man  of  mean 
estate. 

"  Dispense  thy  meat  freely  ;  have  no  niggard  for 
thy  familiar. 

"  Force  not  thyself  upon  a  chief,  nor  give  him  cause 
to  speak  ill  of  thee. 

"  Stick  to  thy  gear  ;  hold  fast  to  thy  arms  till  the 
stern  fight  with  its  weapon-glitter  be  ended. 

"  Be  more  apt  to  give  than  to  deny,  and  follow  after 
gentleness,  O  son  of  Luga." 

And  the  son  of  Luga,  it  is  written,  heeded  these 
counsels,  and  gave  up  his  bad  ways,  and  he  became  one 
of  the  best  of  Finn's  men. 

263 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Character  of  Finn 

Suchlike  things  also  Finn  taught  to  all  his  followers, 
and  the  best  of  them  became  like  himself  in  valour  and 
gentleness  and  generosity.  Each  of  them  loved  the 
repute  of  his  comrades  more  than  his  own,  and  each 
would  say  that  for  all  noble  qualities  there  was  no  man 
in  the  breadth  of  the  world  worthy  to  be  thought  of 
beside  Finn. 

It  was  said  of  him  that  "  he  gave  away  gold  as  if  it 
were  the  leaves  of  the  woodland,  and  silver  as  if  it 
were  the  foam  of  the  sea" ;  and  that  whatever  he  had 
bestowed  upon  any  man,  if  he  fell  out  with  him  after- 
wards, he  was  never  known  to  bring  it  against  him. 

The  poet  Oisin  once  sang  of  him  to  St.  Patrick : 

"  These  are  the  things  that  were  dear  to  Finn — 
The  din  of  battle,  the  banquet's  glee, 
The  bay  of  his  hounds  through  the  rough  glen  ringing, 
And  the  blackbird  singing  in  Letter  Lee, 

"  The  shingle  grinding  along  the  shore 

When  they  dragged  his  war-boats  down  to  sea, 
The  dawn  wind  whistling  his  spears  among, 
And  the  magic  song  of  his  minstrels  three." 

Tests  of  the  Fianna 

In  the  time  of  Finn  no  one  was  ever  permitted  to  be 
one  of  the  Fianna  of  Erin  unless  he  could  pass  through 
many  severe  tests  of  his  worthiness.  He  must  be  versed 
in  the  Twelve  Books  of  Poetry,  and  must  himself  be 
skilled  to  make  verse  in  the  rime  and  metre  of  the 
masters  of  Gaelic  poesy.  Then  he  was  buried  to  his 
middle  in  the  earth,  and  must,  with  a  shield  and  a 
hazel  stick,  there  defend  himself  against  nine  warriors 
casting  spears  at  him,  and  if  he  were  wounded  he  was 
not  accepted.  Then  his  hair  was  woven  into  braids, 
and  he  was  chased  through  the  forest  by  the  Fians.  If 
264 


KEELTA  AND  ST.  PATRICK 

he  were  overtaken,  or  if  a  braid  of  his  hair  were 
disturbed,  or  if  a  dry  stick  cracked  under  his  foot,  he 
was  not  accepted.  He  must  be  able  to  leap  over  a  lath 
level  with  his  brow,  and  to  run  at  full  speed  under  one 
level  with  his  knee,  and  he  must  be  able  while  running 
to  draw  out  a  thorn  from  his  foot  and  never  slacken 
speed.     He  must  take  no  dowry  with  a  wife. 

Keelta  and  St.  Patrick 

It  was  said  that  one  of  the  Fians,  namely,  Keelta, 
lived  on  to  a  great  age,  and  saw  St.  Patrick,  by  whom 
he  was  baptized  into  the  faith  of  the  Christ,  and  to 
whom  he  told  many  tales  of  Finn  and  his  men,  which 
Patrick's  scribe  wrote  down.  And  once  Patrick  asked 
him  how  it  was  that  the  Fianna  became  so  mighty  and 
so  glorious  that  all  Ireland  sang  of  their  deeds,  as 
Ireland  has  done  ever  since.  Keelta  answered:  "Truth 
was  in  our  hearts  and  strength  in  our  arms,  and  what 
we  said,  that  we  fulfilled." 

This  was  also  told  of  Keelta  after  he  had  seen  St. 
Patrick  and  received  the  Faith.  He  chanced  to  be  one 
day  by  Leyney,  in  Connacht,  where  the  Fairy  Folk  of 
the  Mound  of  Duma  were  wont  to  be  sorely  harassed 
and  spoiled  every  year  by  pirates  from  oversea.  They 
called  Keelta  to  their  aid,  and  by  his  counsel  and  valour 
the  invaders  were  overcome  and  driven  home  ;  but 
Keelta  was  sorely  wounded.  Then  Keelta  asked  that 
Owen,  the  seer  of  the  Fairy  Folk,  might  foretell  him 
how  long  he  had  to  live,  for  he  was  already  a  very  aged 
man.  Owen  said  :  "  It  will  be  seventeen  years,  O 
Keelta  of  fair  fame,  till  thou  fall  by  the  pool  of  Tara, 
and  grievous  that  will  be  to  all  the  king's  household." 
"  Even  so  did  my  chief  and  lord,  my  guardian  and 
loving  protector,  Finn,  foretell  to  me,"  said  Keelta. 
"  And    now    what  fee  will  ye  give  me  for  my  rescue 

265 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

of  you  from  the  worst  affliction  that  ever  befell  you  ? " 
"  A  great  reward,"  said  the  Fairy  Folk,  "even  youth  ; 
for  by  our  art  we  shall  change  you  into  a  young  man 
again  with  all  the  strength  and  activity  of  your  prime." 
"  Nay,  God  forbid,"  said  Keelta,  "  that  I  should  take 
upon  me  a  shape  of  sorcery,  or  any  other  than  that 
which  my  Maker,  the  true  and  glorious  God,  hath 
bestowed  upon  me."  And  the  Fairy  Folk  said  :  "  It 
is  the  word  of  a  true  warrior  and  hero,  and  the  thing 
that  thou  sayest  is  good."  So  they  healed  his  wounds, 
and  every  bodily  evil  that  he  had,  and  he  wished  them 
blessing  and  victory,  and  went  his  way. 

The  Birth  of  Oisin 

One  day,  as  Finn  and  his  companions  and  dogs  were 
returning  from  the  chase  to  their  dun  on  the  Hill  of 
Allen,  a  beautiful  fawn  started  up  on  their  path,  and  the 
chase  swept  after  her,  she  taking  the  way  which  led  to 
their  home.  Soon  all  the  pursuers  were  left  far  behind 
save  only  Finn  himself  and  his  two  hounds  Bran  and 
Skolawn.  Now  these  hounds  were  of  strange  breed  ; 
for  Tyren,  sister  to  Murna,  the  mother  of  Finn,  had 
been  changed  into  a  hound  by  the  enchantment  of  a 
woman  of  the  Fairy  Folk,  who  loved  Tyren's  husband 
Ullan  ;  and  the  two  hounds  of  Finn  were  the  children 
of  Tyren,  born  to  her  in  that  shape.  Of  all  hounds  in 
Ireland  they  were  the  best,  and  Finn  loved  them  much, 
so  that  it  was  said  he  wept  but  twice  in  his  life,  and 
once  was  for  the  death  of  Bran. 

At  last,  as  the  chase  went  on  down  a  valley-side, 
Finn  saw  the  fawn  stop  and  lie  down,  while  the  two 
hounds  began  to  play  round  her,  and  to  lick  her  face 
and  limbs.  So  he  gave  commandment  that  none  should 
hurt  her,  and  she  followed  them  to  the  Dun  of  Allen, 
playing  with  the  hounds  as  she  went. 
266 


"I   am  Saba,  O   Finn" 


266 


THE  BIRTH  OF  OISIN 

The  same  night  Finn  awoke  and  saw  standing  by 
his  bed  the  fairest  woman  his  eyes  had  ever  beheld. 

"I  am  Saba,  O  Finn,"  she  said,  "and  I  was  the 
fawn  ye  chased  to-day.  Because  I  would  not  give 
my  love  to  the  Druid  of  the  Fairy  Folk,  who  is  named 
the  Dark,  he  put  that  shape  upon  me  by  his  sorceries, 
and  I  have  borne  it  these  three  years.  But  a  slave  of 
his,  pitying  me,  once  revealed  to  me  that  if  I  could  win 
to  thy  great  Dun  of  Allen,  O  Finn,  I  should  be  safe 
from  all  enchantments,  and  my  natural  shape  would 
come  to  me  again.  But  I  feared  to  be  torn  in  pieces 
by  thy  dogs,  or  wounded  by  thy  hunters,  till  at  last  I 
let  myself  be  overtaken  by  thee  alone  and  by  Bran  and 
Skolawn,  who  have  the  nature  of  man  and  would  do 
me  no  hurt."  "Have  no  fear,  maiden,"  said  Finn  ; 
"  we,  the  Fianna,  are  free,  and  our  guest-friends  are 
free  ;  there  is  none  who  shall  put  compulsion  on  you 
here." 

So  Saba  dwelt  with  Finn,  and  he  made  her  his  wife  ; 
and  so  deep  was  his  love  for  her  that  neither  the  battle 
nor  the  chase  had  any  delight  for  him,  and  for  months 
he  never  left  her  side.  She  also  loved  him  as  deeply, 
and  their  joy  in  each  other  was  like  that  of  the 
Immortals  in  the  Land  of  Youth.  But  at  last  word 
came  to  Finn  that  the  warships  of  the  Northmen  were 
in  the  Bay  of  Dublin,  and  he  summoned  his  heroes  to 
the  fight  ;  "  For,"  said  he  to  Saba,  "  the  men  of  Erin 
give  us  tribute  and  hospitality  to  defend  them  from  the 
foreigner,  and  it  were  shame  to  take  it  from  them  and 
not  to  give  that  to  which  we,  on  our  side,  are  pledged." 
And  he  called  to  mind  that  great  saying  of  Goll  mac 
Morna  when  they  were  once  sore  bested  by  a  mighty 
host.  "  A  man,"  said  Goll,  "  lives  after  his  life,  but 
not  after  his  honour." 

Seven  days  was  Finn  absent,  and  he  drove  the  North- 

267 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

men  from  the  shores  of  Erin.  But  on  the  eighth  day 
he  returned,  and  when  he  entered  his  dun  he  saw 
trouble  in  the  eyes  of  his  men,  and  of  their  fair  women- 
folk, and  Saba  was  not  on  the  rampart  expecting  his 
return.  So  he  bade  them  tell  him  what  had  chanced, 
and  they  said: 

"  Whilst  thou,  our  father  and  lord,  wert  afar  off 
smiting  the  foreigner,  and  Saba  looking  ever  down  the 
pass  for  thy  return,  we  saw  one  day  as  it  were  the  like- 
ness of  thee  approaching,  and  Bran  and  Skolawn  at  thy 
heels.  And  we  seemed  also  to  hear  the  notes  of  the 
Fian  hunting-call  blown  on  the  wind.  Then  Saba 
hastened  to  the  great  gate,  and  we  could  not  stay  her,  so 
eager  was  she  to  rush  to  the  phantom.  But  when  she 
came  near  she  halted  and  gave  a  loud  and  bitter  cry, 
and  the  shape  of  thee  smote  her  with  a  hazel  wand,  and 
lo,  there  was  no  woman  there  any  more,  but  a  deer. 
Then  those  hounds  chased  it,  and  ever  as  it  strove  to 
reach  again  the  gate  of  the  dun  they  turned  back.  We 
all  now  seized  what  arms  we  could  and  ran  out  to  drive 
away  the  enchanter,  but  when  we  reached  the  place  there 
was  nothing  to  be  seen,  only  still  we  heard  the  rushing 
of  flying  feet  and  the  baying  of  dogs,  and  one  thought 
it  came  from  here,  and  another  from  there,  till  at  last 
the  uproar  died  away  and  all  was  still.  What  we  could 
do,  O  Finn,  we  did  ;   Saba  is  gone." 

Finn  then  struck  his  hand  on  his  breast,  but  spoke  no 
word,  and  he  went  to  his  own  chamber.  No  man  saw 
him  for  the  rest  of  that  day,  nor  for  the  day  after.  Then 
he  came  forth,  and  ordered  the  matters  of  the  Fianna  as 
of  old,  but  for  seven  years  thereafter  he  went  searching 
for  Saba  through  every  remote  glen  and  dark  forest  and 
cavern  of  Ireland,  and  he  would  take  no  hounds  with  him 
save  Bran  and  Skolawn.  But  at  last  he  renounced  all 
hope  of  rinding  her  again,  and  went  hunting  as  of  old. 
268 


THE  BIRTH  OF  OISIN 

One  day  as  he  was  following  the  chase  on  Ben  Bulban, 
in  Sligo,  he  heard  the  musical  bay  of  the  dogs  change  of 
a  sudden  to  a  fierce  growling  and  yelping,  as  though  they 
were  in  combat  with  some  beast,  and  running  hastily  up 
he  and  his  men  beheld,  under  a  great  tree,  a  naked  boy 
with  long  hair,  and  around  him  the  hounds  struggling 
to  seize  him,  but  Bran  and  Skolawn  fighting  with  them 
and  keeping  them  off.  And  the  lad  was  tall  and  shapely, 
and  as  the  heroes  gathered  round  he  gazed  undauntedly 
on  them,  never  heeding  the  rout  of  dogs  at  his  feet. 
The  Fians  beat  off  the  dogs  and  brought  the  lad  home 
with  them,  and  Finn  was  very  silent  and  continually 
searched  the  lad's  countenance  with  his  eyes.  In  time 
the  use  of  speech  came  to  him,  and  the  story  that  he  told 
was  this  : 

He  had  known  no  father,  and  no  mother  save  a  gentle 
hind,  with  whom  he  lived  in  a  most  green  and  pleasant 
valley  shut  in  on  every  side  by  towering  cliffs  that  could 
not  be  scaled  or  by  deep  chasms  in  the  earth.  In  the 
summer  he  lived  on  fruits  and  suchlike,  and  in  the 
winter  store  of  provisions  was  laid  for  him  in  a  cave. 
And  there  came  to  them  sometimes  a  tall,  dark-visaged 
man,  who  spoke  to  his  mother,  now  tenderly,  and  now 
in  loud  menace,  but  she  always  shrank  away  in  fear,  and 
the  man  departed  in  anger.  At  last  there  came  a  day 
when  the  dark  man  spoke  very  long  with  his  mother  in 
all  tones  of  entreaty  and  of  tenderness  and  of  rage,  but 
she  would  still  keep  aloof  and  give  no  sign  save  of  fear 
and  abhorrence.  Then  at  length  the  dark  man  drew 
near  and  smote  her  with  a  hazel  wand  ;  and  with  that 
he  turned  and  went  his  way,  but  she  this  time  followed 
him,  still  looking  back  at  her  son  and  piteously  com- 
plaining. And  he,  when  he  strove  to  follow,  found  him- 
self unable  to  move  a  limb  ;  and  crying  out  with  rage 
and  desolation  he  fell  to  the  earth,  and  his  senses  left  him. 

26 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

When  he  came  to  himself  he  was  on  the  mountain-side 
on  Ben  Bulban,  where  he  remained  some  days,  searching 
for  that  green  and  hidden  valley,  which  he  never  found 
again.  And  after  a  while  the  dogs  found  him  ;  but  of 
the  hind  his  mother  and  of  the  Dark  Druid  there  is  no 
man  knows  the  end. 

Finn  called  his  name  Oisln  (Little  Fawn),  and  he 
became  a  warrior  of  fame,  but  far  more  famous  for  the 
songs  and  tales  that  he  made ;  so  that  of  all  things  to 
this  day  that  are  told  of  the  Fianna  of  Erin  men  are 
wont  to  say  :  "  Thus  sang  the  bard  Oisln,  son  of  Finn." 

Oisln  and  Niam 

It  happened  that  on  a  misty  summer  morning  as 
Finn  and  Oisln  with  many  companions  were  hunting  on 
the  shores  of  Loch  Lena  they  saw  coming  towards  them 
a  maiden,  beautiful  exceedingly,  riding  on  a  snow-white 
steed.  She  wore  the  garb  of  a  queen  ;  a  crown  of  gold 
was  on  her  head,  and  a  dark-brown  mantle  of  silk,  set 
with  stars  of  red  gold,  fell  around  her  and  trailed  on  the 
ground.  Silver  shoes  were  on  her  horse's  hoofs,  and  a 
crest  of  gold  nodded  on  his  head.  When  she  came  near 
she  said  to  Finn  :  "  From  very  far  away  I  have  come,  and 
now  at  last  I  have  found  thee,  Finn  son  of  Cumhal." 

Then  Finn  said:  "What  is  thy  land  and  race,  maiden, 
and  what  dost  thou  seek  from  me  ?  " 

"  My  name,"  she  said,  "  is  Niam  of  the  Golden  Hair. 
I  am  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  the  Land  of  Youth, 
and  that  which  has  brought  me  here  is  the  love  of  thy 
son  Oisln."  Then  she  turned  to  Oisln,  and  she  spoke  to 
him  in  the  voice  of  one  who  has  never  asked  anything 
but  it  was  granted  to  her. 

"  Wilt  thou  go  with  me,  Oisln,  to  my  father's  land  ?" 

And  Oisln  said  :  "  That  will  I,  and  to  the  world's 
end "  ;  for  the  fairy  spell  had  so  wrought  upon  his 
270 


Oisin  and   Niam 


270 


OISIN  AND  NIAM 
heart  that  he  cared  no  more  for  any  earthly  thing  but 
to  have  the  love  of  Niam  of  the  Head  of  Gold. 

Then  the  maiden  spoke  of  the  Land  Oversea  to 
which  she  had  summoned  her  lover,  and  as  she  spoke  a 
dreamy  stillness  fell  on  all  things,  nor  did  a  horse  shake 
his  bit,  nor  a  hound  bay,  nor  the  least  breath  of  wind 
stir  in  the  forest  trees  till  she  had  made  an  end.  And 
what  she  said  seemed  sweeter  and  more  wonderful  as  she 
spoke  it  than  anything  they  could  afterwards  remember 
to  have  heard,  but  so  far  as  they  could  remember  it  it 
was  this  : 

"  Delightful  is  the  land  beyond  all  dreams, 
Fairer  than  aught  thine  eyes  have  ever  seen. 
There  all  the  year  the  fruit  is  on  the  tree, 
And  all  the  year  the  bloom  is  on  the  flower. 

"  There  with  wild  honey  drip  the  forest  trees ; 
The  stores  of  wine  and  mead  shall  never  fail. 
Nor  pain  nor  sickness  knows  the  dweller  there, 
Death  and  decay  come  near  him  never  more. 

"  The  feast  shall  cloy  not,  nor  the  chase  shall  tire, 
Nor  music  cease  for  ever  through  the  hall ; 
The  gold  and  jewels  of  the  Land  of  Youth 
Outshine  all  splendours  ever  dreamed  by  man. 

"  Thou  shalt  have  horses  of  the  fairy  breed, 
Thou  shalt  have  hounds  that  can  outrun  the  wind ; 
A  hundred  chiefs  shall  follow  thee  in  war, 
A  hundred  maidens  sing  thee  to  thy  sleep. 

"  A  crown  of  sovranty  thy  brow  shall  wear, 
And  by  thy  side  a  magic  blade  shall  hang, 
And  thou  shalt  be  lord  of  all  the  Land  of  Youth, 
And  lord  of  Niam  of  the  Head  of  Gold." 

As  the  magic  song  ended  the  Fians  beheld  Oisln 
mount  the  fairy  steed  and  hold  the  maiden  in  his 
arms,  and  ere  they  could  stir  or  speak  she  turned  her 
horse's  head  and  shook  the  ringing  bridle,  and  down 
the  forest  glade  they  fled,  as  a  beam  of  light  flies  over 

271 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  land  when  clouds  drive  across  the  sun  ;  and  never 
did  the  Fianna  behold  Oisln  son  of  Finn  on  earth 
again. 

Yet  what  befell  him  afterwards  is  known.  As  his 
birth  was  strange,  so  was  his  end,  for  he  saw  the  wonders 
of  the  Land  of  Youth  with  mortal  eyes  and  lived  to  tell 
them  with  mortal  lips. 

The  Journey  to  Fairyland 

When  the  white  horse  with  its  riders  reached  the  sea 
it  ran  lightly  over  the  waves,  and  soon  the  green  woods 
and  headlands  of  Erin  faded  out  of  sight.  And  now 
the  sun  shone  fiercely  down,  and  the  riders  passed  into 
a  golden  haze  in  which  Oisln  lost  all  knowledge  of  where 
he  was  or  if  sea  or  dry  land  were  beneath  his  horse's 
hoofs.  But  strange  sights  sometimes  appeared  to  them 
in  the  mist,  for  towers  and  palace  gateways  loomed  up 
and  disappeared,  and  once  a  hornless  doe  bounded  by 
them  chased  by  a  white  hound  with  one  red  ear  ;  and 
again  they  saw  a  young  maid  ride  by  on  a  brown  steed, 
bearing  a  golden  apple  in  her  hand,  and  close  behind 
her  followed  a  young  horseman  on  a  white  steed,  a 
purple  cloak  floating  at  his  back  and  a  gold-hilted  sword 
in  his  hand.  And  Oisln  would  have  asked  the  princess 
who  and  what  these  apparitions  were,  but  Niam  bade 
him  ask  nothing  nor  seem  to  notice  any  phantom 
they  might  see  until  they  were  come  to  the  Land  of 
Youth. 

Oisin's  Return 

The  story  goes  on  to  tell  how  Oisln  met  with  various 
adventures  in  the  Land  of  Youth,  including  the  rescue  of 
an  imprisoned  princess  from  a  Fomorian  giant.  But  at 
last,  after  what  seemed  to  him  a  sojourn  of  three  weeks 
in  the  Land  of  Youth,  he  was  satiated  with  delights  of 
272 


OISIN'S  RETURN 

every  kind,  and  longed  to  visit  his  native  land  again 
and  to  see  his  old  comrades.  He  promised  to  return 
when  he  had  done  so,  and  Niam  gave  him  the  white 
fairy  steed  that  had  borne  him  across  the  sea  to  Fairy- 
land, but  charged  him  that  when  he  had  reached  the 
Land  of  Erin  again  he  must  never  alight  from  its  back 
nor  touch  the  soil  of  the  earthly  world  with  his  foot, 
or  the  way  of  return  to  the  Land  of  Youth  would  be 
barred  to  him  for  ever.  Oisln  then  set  forth,  and  once 
more  crossed  the  mystic  ocean,  finding  himself  at  last  on 
the  western  shores  of  Ireland.  Here  he  made  at  once 
for  the  Hill  of  Allen,  where  the  dun  of  Finn  was  wont 
to  be,  but  marvelled,  as  he  traversed  the  woods,  that  he 
met  no  sign  of  the  Fian  hunters  and  at  the  small  size 
of  the  folk  whom  he  saw  tilling  the  ground. 

At  length,  coming  from  the  forest  path  into  the  great 
clearing  where  the  Hill  of  Allen  was  wont  to  rise,  broad 
and  green,  with  its  rampart  enclosing  many  white-walled 
dwellings,  and  the  great  hall  towering  high  in  the  midst, 
he  saw  but  grassy  mounds  overgrown  with  rank  weeds 
and  whin  bushes,  and  among  them  pastured  a  peasant's 
kine.  Then  a  strange  horror  fell  upon  him  and  he 
thought  some  enchantment  from  the  land  of  Faery  held 
his  eyes  and  mocked  him  with  false  visions.  He  threw 
his  arms  abroad  and  shouted  the  names  of  Finn  and 
Oscar,  but  none  replied,  and  he  thought  that  perchance 
the  hounds  might  hear  him,  so  he  cried  upon  Bran  and 
Skolawn  and  strained  his  ears  if  they  might  catch  the 
faintest  rustle  or  whisper  of  the  world  from  the  sight 
of  which  his  eyes  were  holden,  but  he  heard  only  the 
sighing  of  the  wind  in  the  whins.  Then  he  rode  in  terror 
from  that  place,  setting  his  face  towards  the  eastern 
sea,  for  he  meant  to  traverse  Ireland  from  side  to  side 
and  end  to  end  in  search  of  some  escape  from  his 
enchantment. 

s  273 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  Broken  Spell 

But  when  he  came  near  to  the  eastern  sea,  and  was 
now  in  the  place  which   is  called  the  Valley  of  the 
Thrushes,1  he  saw  in  a  field  upon  the  hillside  a  crowd 
of  men  striving  to  roll  aside  a  great  boulder  from  their 
tilled  land,  and  an  overseer  directing  them.     Towards 
them  he  rode,  meaning  to  ask  them  concerning  Finn 
and  the  Fianna.      As  he  came  near  they  all  stopped 
their  work  to  gaze  upon  him,  for  to  them  he  appeared 
like  a  messenger  of  the  Fairy  Folk  or  an  angel  from 
heaven.    Taller  and  mightier  he  was  than  the  men-folk 
they  knew,  with  sword-blue  eyes  and  brown,  ruddy 
cheeks  ;  in  his  mouth,  as  it  were,  a  shower  of  pearls, 
and  bright  hair  clustered  beneath  the  rim  of  his  helmet. 
And  as  Oisin  looked  upon  their  puny  forms,  marred  by 
toil  and  care,  and  at  the  stone  which  they  feebly  strove 
to  heave  from  its  bed,  he  was  filled  with  pity,  and  thought 
to  himself,  "  Not  such  were  even  the  churls  of  Erin  when 
I  left  them   for  the  Land  of  Youth  "  and  he  stooped 
from  his  saddle  to  help  them.     He  set  his  hand  to  the 
boulder,  and  with  a  mighty  heave   he  lifted  it  from 
where  it  lay  and  set  it  rolling  down  the  hill.     And  the 
men  raised  a  shout  of  wonder  and  applause ;  but  their 
shouting  changed  in  a  moment  into  cries  of  terror  and 
dismay,  and  they  fled,  jostling  and  overthrowing  each 
other  to  escape  from  the  place   of  fear,  for  a  marvel 
horrible  to  see  had  taken  place.     For  Oisin's  saddle- 
girth  had  burst  as  he   heaved   the   stone  and    he  fell 
headlong  to  the  ground.     In  an  instant  the  white  steed 
had  vanished  from  their  eyes  like  a  wreath  of  mist,  and 
that  which  rose,  feeble  and  staggering,  from  the  ground 
was  no  youthful  warrior,  but  a  man  stricken  with  extreme 
old  age,  white-bearded  and  withered,  who  stretched  out 

1  Glanismole,  near  Dublin. 
2/4 


1 


fl^f^  ^  "••■■"££ 


"The   white   steed   had  vanished   from  their  eyes  like  a  wreath 

of  mist "  274 


THE  BROKEN  SPELL 

groping  hands  and  moaned  with  feeble  and  bitter  cries. 
And  his  crimson  cloak  and  yellow  silken  tunic  were 
now  but  coarse  homespun  stuff  tied  with  a  hempen 
girdle,  and  the  gold-hilted  sword  was  a  rough  oaken 
staff  such  as  a  beggar  carries  who  wanders  the  roads 
from  farmer's  house  to  house. 

When  the  people  saw  that  the  doom  that  had  been 
wrought  was  not  for  them  they  returned,  and  found  the 
old  man  prone  on  the  ground  with  his  face  hidden  in  his 
arms.  So  they  lifted  him  up,  and  asked  who  he  was 
and  what  had  befallen  him.  Oisln  gazed  round  on  them 
with  dim  eyes,  and  at  last  he  said  :  "  I  was  Oisln  the  son 
of  Finn,  and  I  pray  ye  tell  me  where  he  dwells,  for 
his  dun  on  the  Hill  of  Allen  is  now  a  desolation,  and  I 
have  neither  seen  him  nor  heard  his  hunting-horn  from 
the  western  to  the  eastern  sea."  Then  the  men  gazed 
strangely  on  each  other  and  on  Oisln,  and  the  overseer 
asked  :  "  Of  what  Finn  dost  thou  speak,  for  there  be 
many  of  that  name  in  Erin  ?  "  Oisln  said  :  "  Surely  of 
Finn  mac  Cumhal  mac  TrenmOr,  captain  of  the  Fianna 
of  Erin."  Then  the  overseer  said  :  "  Thou  art  daft,  old 
man,  and  thou  hast  made  us  daft  to  take  thee  for  a  youth 
as  we  did  a  while  agone.  But  we  at  least  have  now  our 
wits  again,  and  we  know  that  Finn  son  of  Cumhal  and 
all  his  generation  have  been  dead  these  three  hundred 
years.  At  the  battle  of  Gowra  fell  Oscar,  son  of  Oisln, 
and  Finn  at  the  battle  of  Brea,  as  the  historians  tell  us  ; 
and  the  lays  of  Oisln,  whose  death  no  man  knows  the 
manner  of,  are  sung  by  our  harpers  at  great  men's  feasts. 
But  now  the  Talkenn,1  Patrick,  has  come  into  Ireland, 
and  has  preached  to  us  the  One  God  and  Christ  His 
Son,  by  whose  might  these  old  days  and  ways  are  done 
away  with  ;  and  Finn  and  his  Fianna,  with  their  feasting 

1  Talkenn,  or  "  Adze-head,"  was  a  name  given  to  St.  Patrick  by 
the  Irish.      Probably  it  referred  to  the  shape  of  his  tonsure. 

275 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

and  hunting  and  songs  of  war  and  of  love,  have  no  such 
reverence  among  us  as  the  monks  and  virgins  of  Holy 
Patrick,  and  the  psalms  and  prayers  that  go  up  daily  to 
cleanse  us  from  sin  and  to  save  us  from  the  fire  of  judg- 
ment." But  Oisin  replied,  only  half  hearing  and  still  less 
comprehending  what  was  said  to  him  :  "  If  thy  God  have 
slain  Finn  and  Oscar,  I  would  say  that  God  is  a  strong 
man."  Then  they  all  cried  out  upon  him,  and  some 
picked  up  stones,  but  the  overseer  bade  them  let  him  be 
until  the  Talkenn  had  spoken  with  him,  and  till  he  should 
order  what  was  to  be  done. 

Oisin  and  Patrick 

So  they  brought  him  to  Patrick,  who  treated  him 
gently  and  hospitably,  and  to  Patrick  he  told  the  story 
of  all  that  had  befallen  him.  But  Patrick  bade  his  scribes 
write  all  carefully  down,  that  the  memory  of  the  heroes 
whom  Oisin  had  known,  and  of  the  joyous  and  free  life 
they  had  led  in  the  woods  and  glens  and  wild  places  of 
Erin,  should  never  be  forgotten  among  men. 

This  remarkable  legend  is  known  only  in  the  modern 
Irish  poem  written  by  Michael  Comyn  about  1750,  a 
poem  which  may  be  called  the  swan-song  of  Irish  litera- 
ture. Doubtless  Comyn  worked  on  earlier  traditional 
material ;  but  though  the  ancient  Ossianic  poems  tell  us 
of  the  prolongation  of  Oisin's  life,  so  that  he  could  meet 
St.  Patrick  and  tell  him  stories  of  the  Fianna,  the 
episodes  of  Niam's  courtship  and  the  sojourn  in  the 
Land  of  Youth  are  known  to  us  at  present  only  in 
the  poem  of  Michael  Comyn. 

The  Enchanted  Cave 

This  tale,  which  I  take  from  S.  H.  O'Grady's  edition 
in  "  Silva  Gadelica,"  relates  that  Finn  once  made  a  great 
hunting  in  the  district  of  Corann,  in  Northern  Connacht, 
276 


They  found  themselves  suddenly  entangled  in  strands  of  yarn" 

276 


THE  ENCHANTED  CAVE 
which  was  ruled  over  by  one  Conaran,  a  lord  of  the 
Danaan  Folk.    Angered  at  the  intrusion  of  the  Fianna  in 
his  hunting-grounds,  he  sent  his  three  sorcerer-daughters 
to  take  vengeance  on  the  mortals. 

Finn,  it  is  said,  and  Conan  the  Bald,  with  Finn's  two 
favourite  hounds,  were  watching  the  hunt  from  the  top 
of  the  Hill  of  Keshcorran  and  listening  to  the  cries  of 
the  beaters  and  the  notes  of  the  horn  and  the  baying  of 
the  dogs,  when,  in  moving  about  on  the  hill,  they  came 
upon  the  mouth  of  a  great  cavern,  before  which  sat  three 
hags  of  evil  and  revolting  aspect.  On  three  crooked 
sticks  of  holly  they  had  twisted  left-handwise  hanks  of 
yarn,  and  were  spinning  with  these  when  Finn  and  his 
followers  arrived.  To  view  them  more  closely  the 
warriors  drew  near,  when  they  found  themselves  sud- 
denly entangled  in  strands  of  the  yarn  which  the  hags 
had  spun  about  the  place  like  the  web  of  a  spider,  and 
deadly  faintness  and  trembling  came  over  them,  so  that 
they  were  easily  bound  fast  by  the  hags  and  carried  into 
the  dark  recesses  of  the  cave.  Others  of  the  party  then 
arrived,  looking  for  Finn.  All  suffered  the  same  experi- 
ence— they  lost  all  their  pith  and  valour  at  the  touch  of 
the  bewitched  yarn,  and  were  bound  and  carried  into  the 
cave,  until  the  whole  party  were  laid  in  bonds,  with  the 
dogs  baying  and  howling  outside. 

The  witches  now  seized  their  sharp,  wide-channelled, 
hard-tempered  swords,  and  were  about  to  fall  on  the 
captives  and  slay  them,  but  first  they  looked  round  at 
the  mouth  of  the  cave  to  see  if  there  was  any  straggler 
whom  they  had  not  yet  laid  hold  of.  At  this  moment 
Goll  mac  Morna,  "  the  raging  lion,  the  torch  of  onset, 
the  great  of  soul,"  came  up,  and  a  desperate  combat 
ensued,  which  ended  by  Goll  cleaving  two  of  the  hags 
in  twain,  and  then  subduing  and  binding  the  third, 
whose  name  was  Irnan.     She,  as  he  was  about  to  slay 

277 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 
her,  begged  for  mercy — "  Surely  it  were  better  for  thee 
to  have  the  Fianna  whole  " — and  he  gave  her  her  life  if 
she  would  release  the  prisoners. 

Into  the  cave  they  went,  and  one  by  one  the  captives 
were  unbound,  beginning  with  the  poet  Fergus  True- 
lips  and  the  "men  of  science,"  and  they  all  sat  down 
on  the  hill  to  recover  themselves,  while  Fergus  sang  a 
chant  of  praise  in  honour  of  the  rescuer,  Goll  ;  and 
Irnan  disappeared. 

Ere  long  a  monster  was  seen  approaching  them,  a 
"gnarled  hag"  with  blazing, bloodshot  eyes,  a  yawning 
mouth  full  of  ragged  fangs,  nails  like  a  wild  beast's,  and 
armed  like  a  warrior.  She  laid  Finn  under  geise  to 
provide  her  with  single  combat  from  among  his  men 
until  she  should  have  her  fill  of  it.  It  was  no  other  than 
the  third  sister,  Irnan,  whom  Goll  had  spared.  Finn 
in  vain  begged  Oisin,  Oscar,  Keelta,and  the  other  prime 
warriors  of  the  Fianna  to  meet  her  ;  they  all  pleaded 
inability  after  the  ill-treatment  and  contumely  they  had 
received.  At  last,  as  Finn  himself  was  about  to  do  battle 
with  her,  Goll  said  :  "  O  Finn,  combat  with  a  crone 
beseems  thee  not,"  and  he  drew  sword  for  a  second 
battle  with  this  horrible  enemy.  At  last,  after  a  desperate 
combat,  he  ran  her  through  her  shield  and  through  her 
heart,  so  that  the  blade  stuck  out  at  the  far  side,  and  she 
fell  dead.  The  Fianna  then  sacked  the  dan  of  Conaran, 
and  took  possession  of  all  the  treasure  in  it,  while 
Finn  bestowed  on  Goll  mac  Morna  his  own  daughter, 
Keva  of  the  White  Skin,  and,  leaving  the  dun  a  heap  of 
glowing  embers,  they  returned  to  the  Hill  of  Allen. 

The  Chase  of  Slievegallion 

This  fine  story,  which  is  given  in  poetical  form,  as  if 
narrated  by  Oisin,  in  the  Ossianic  Society's  "  Transac- 
tions," tells  how  Cullan  the  Smith  (here  represented  as 
278 


"Patrick  bade  his  scribes  wiite  all  carefully  down"  278 


THE  CHASE  OF  SLIEVEGALLION 

a  Danaan  divinity),  who  dwelt  on  or  near  the  mountains 
of  Slievegallion,  in  Co.  Armagh,  had  two  daughters, 
Aine  and  Milucra,  each  of  whom  loved  Finn  mac 
Cumhal.  They  were  jealous  of  each  other  ;  and  on 
Aine  once  happening  to  say  that  she  would  never  have 
a  man  with  grey  hair,  Milucra  saw  a  means  of  securing 
Finn's  love  entirely  for  herself.  So  she  assembled  her 
friends  among  the  Danaans  round  the  little  grey  lake 
that  lies  on  the  top  of  Slievegallion,  and  they  charged 
its  waters  with  enchantments. 

This  introduction,  it  may  be  observed,  bears  strong 
signs  of  being  a  later  addition  to  the  original  tale,  made 
in  a  less  understanding  age  or  by  a  less  thoughtful  class 
into  whose  hands  the  legend  had  descended.  The  real 
meaning  of  the  transformation  which  it  narrates  is 
probably  much  deeper. 

The  story  goes  on  to  say  that  not  long  after  this  the 
hounds  of  Finn,  Bran  and  Skolawn,  started  a  fawn  near 
the  Hill  of  Allen,  and  ran  it  northwards  till  the  chase 
ended  on  the  top  of  Slievegallion,  a  mountain  which, 
like  Slievenamon1  in  the  south,  was  in  ancient  Ireland 
a  veritable  focus  of  Danaan  magic  and  legendary  lore. 
Finn  followed  the  hounds  alone  till  the  fawn  disappeared 
on  the  mountain-side.  In  searching  for  it  Finn  at  last 
came  on  the  little  lake  which  lies  on  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  and  saw  by  its  brink  a  lady  of  wonderful 
beauty,  who  sat  there  lamenting  and  weeping.  Finn 
asked  her  the  cause  of  her  grief.  She  explained  that  a 
gold  ring  which  she  dearly  prized  had  fallen  from  her 
finger  into  the  lake,  and  she  charged  Finn  by  the 
bonds  of  geise  that  he  should  plunge  in  and  find  it 
for  her. 

Finn  did  so,  and  after  diving  into  every  recess  of  the 

1  Pronounced  "  Sleeve-na-mon' "  :  accent  on  last  syllable.  It 
means  the  Mountain  of  the  [Fairy]  Women. 

279 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

lake  he  discovered  the  ring,  and  before  leaving  the 
water  gave  it  to  the  lady.  She  immediately  plunged 
into  the  lake  and  disappeared.  Finn  then  surmised 
that  some  enchantment  was  being  wrought  on  him,  and 
ere  long  he  knew  what  it  was,  for  on  stepping  forth  on 
dry  land  he  fell  down  from  sheer  weakness,  and  arose 
again,  a  tottering  and  feeble  old  man,  snowy-haired 
and  withered,  so  that  even  his  faithful  hounds  did  not 
know  him,  but  ran  round  the  lake  searching  for  their 
lost  master. 

Meantime  Finn  was  missed  from  his  palace  on  the 
Hill  of  Allen,  and  a  party  soon  set  out  on  the  track  on 
which  he  had  been  seen  to  chase  the  deer.  They  came 
to  the  lake-side  on  Slievegallion,  and  found  there  a 
wretched  and  palsied  old  man,  whom  they  questioned, 
but  who  could  do  nothing  but  beat  his  breast  and  moan. 
At  last,  beckoning  Keelta  to  come  near,  the  aged  man 
whispered  faintly  some  words  into  his  ear,  and  lo,  it  was 
Finn  himself!  When  the  Fianna  had  ceased  from 
their  cries  of  wonder  and  lamentation,  Finn  whispered 
to  Keelta  the  tale  of  his  enchantment,  and  told  them 
that  the  author  of  it  must  be  the  daughter  of  Cullan 
the  Smith,  who  dwelt  in  the  Fairy  Mound  of  Slieve- 
gallion. The  Fianna,  bearing  Finn  on  a  litter,  imme- 
diately went  to  the  Mound  and  began  to  dig  fiercely. 
For  three  days  and  nights  they  dug  at  the  Fairy  Mound, 
and  at  last  penetrated  to  its  inmost  recesses,  when  a 
maiden  suddenly  stood  before  them  holding  a  drinking- 
horn  of  red  gold.  It  was  given  to  Finn.  He  drank 
from  it,  and  at  once  his  beauty  and  form  were  restored 
to  him,  but  his  hair  still  remained  white  as  silver.  This 
too  would  have  been  restored  by  another  draught,  but 
Finn  let  it  stay  as  it  was,  and  silver-white  his  hair 
remained  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

The  tale  has  been  made  the  subject  of  a  very  striking 
280 


THE  "COLLOQUY  OF  THE  ANCIENTS" 

allegorical  drama,  "The  Masque  of  Finn,"  by  Mr. 
Standish  O'Grady,  who,  rightly  no  doubt,  interprets 
the  story  as  symbolising  the  acquisition  of  wisdom  and 
understanding  through  suffering.  A  leader  of  men 
must  descend  into  the  lake  of  tears  and  know  feeble- 
ness and  despair  before  his  spirit  can  sway  them  to 
great  ends. 

There  is  an  antique  sepulchral  monument  on  the 
mountain-top  which  the  peasantry  of  the  district  still 
regard — or  did  in  the  days  before  Board  schools — as 
the  abode  of  the  "  Witch  of  the  Lake  "  ;  and  a  myste- 
rious beaten  path,  which  was  never  worn  by  the  passage 
of  human  feet,  and  which  leads  from  the  rock  sepulchre 
to  the  lake-side,  is  ascribed  to  the  going  to  and  fro  of 
this  supernatural  being. 

The  "Colloquy  of  the  Ancients** 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  attractive  of  the 
relics  of  Ossianic  literature  is  the  "  Colloquy  of  the 
Ancients,"  Agallamh  na  Senorach,  a  long  narrative  piece 
dating  from  about  the  thirteenth  century.  It  has 
been  published  with  a  translation  in  O'Grady's  "  Silva 
Gadelica."  It  is  not  so  much  a  story  as  a  collection 
of  stories  skilfully  set  in  a  mythical  framework.  The 
"  Colloquy"  opens  by  presenting  us  with  the  figures  of 
Keelta  mac  Ronan  and  Oisln  son  of  Finn,  each  accom- 
panied by  eight  warriors,  all  that  are  left  of  the  great 
fellowship  of  the  Fianna  after  the  battle  of  Gowra  and 
the  subsequent  dispersion  of  the  Order.  A  vivid  picture 
is  given  us  of  the  grey  old  warriors,  who  had  outlived 
their  epoch,  meeting  for  the  last  time  at  the  dun  of  a 
once  famous  chieftainess  named  Camha,  and  of  their 
melancholy  talk  over  bygone  days,  till  at  last  a  long 
silence  settled  on  them. 


281 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Keelta  Meets  St.  Patrick 

Finally  Keelta  and  Oisln  resolve  to  part,  Oisln,  of 
whom  we  hear  little  more,  going  to  the  Fairy  Mound, 
where  his  Danaan  mother  (here  called  Blai)  has  her 
dwelling,  while  Keelta  takes  his  way  over  the  plains  of 
Meath  till  he  comes  to  Drumderg,  where  he  lights  on 
St.  Patrick  and  his  monks.  How  this  is  chronologically 
possible  the  writer  does  not  trouble  himself  to  explain, 
and  he  shows  no  knowledge  of  the  legend  of  Oisln  in  the 
Land  of  Youth.  "  The  clerics,"  says  the  story,  "  saw 
Keelta  and  his  band  draw  near  them,  and  fear  fell  on 
them  before  the  tall  men  with  the  huge  wolf-hounds  that 
accompanied  them,  for  they  were  not  people  of  one 
epoch  or  of  one  time  with  the  clergy."  Patrick  then 
sprinkles  the  heroes  with  holy  water,  whereat  legions 
of  demons  who  had  been  hovering  over  them  fly  away 
into  the  hills  and  glens,  and  "  the  enormous  men  sat 
down."  Patrick,  after  inquiring  the  name  of  his  guest, 
then  says  he  has  a  boon  to  crave  of  him — he  wishes  to 
find  a  well  of  pure  water  with  which  to  baptize  the  folk 
of  Bregia  and  of  Meath. 

The  Well  of  Tradaban 

Keelta,  who  knows  every  brook  and  hill  and  rath  and 
wood  in  the  country,  thereon  takes  Patrick  by  the  hand 
and  leads  him  away  "  till,"  as  the  writer  says,  "  right  in 
front  of  them  they  saw  a  loch-well,  sparkling  and  trans- 
lucid.  The  size  and  thickness  of  the  cress  and  of  the 
fothlacht,  or  brooklime,  that  grew  on  it  was  a  wonder- 
ment to  them."  Then  Keelta  began  to  tell  of  the  fame 
and  qualities  of  the  place,  and  uttered  an  exquisite  little 
lyric  in  praise  of  it  : 

"  O  Well  of  the  Strand  of  the  Two  Women,  beautiful 
are  thy  cresses,  luxuriant,  branching  ;  since  thy  produce 
282 


ST.  PATRICK  AND  IRISH  LEGEND 

is  neglected  on  thee  thy  brooklime  is  not  suffered  to 
grow.  Forth  from  thy  banks  thy  trout  are  to  be  seen, 
thy  wild  swine  in  the  wilderness  ;  the  deer  of  thy  fair 
hunting  crag-land,  thy  dappled  and  red-chested  fawns  ! 
Thy  mast  all  hanging  on  the  branches  of  the  trees  ;  thy 
fish  in  estuaries  of  the  rivers  ;  lovely  the  colours  of  thy 
purling  streams,  O  thou  that  art  azure-hued,  and  again 
green  with  reflections  of  surrounding  copse-wood."  1 

St.  Patrick  and  Irish  Legend 

After  the  warriors  have  been  entertained  Patrick  asks  : 
"  Was  he,  Finn  mac  Cumhal,  a  good  lord  with  whom 
ye  were  ? "  Keelta  praises  the  generosity  of  Finn,  and 
goes  on  to  describe  in  detail  the  glories  of  his  house- 
hold, whereon  Patrick  says  : 

"  Were  it  not  for  us  an  impairing  of  the  devout  life, 
an  occasion  of  neglecting  prayer,  and  of  deserting  con- 
verse with  God,  we,  as  we  talked  with  thee,  would  feel 
the  time  pass  quickly,  warrior  !  " 

Keelta  goes  on  with  another  tale  of  the  Fianna,  and 
Patrick,  now  fairly  caught  in  the  toils  of  the  enchanter, 
cries  :  "  Success  and  benediction  attend  thee,  Keelta  ! 
This  is  to  me  a  lightening  of  spirit  and  mind.  And  now 
tell  us  another  tale." 

So  ends  the  exordium  of  the  "  Colloquy."  As  usual 
in  the  openings  of  Irish  tales,  nothing  could  be  better 
contrived  ;  the  touch  is  so  light,  there  is  so  happy  a 
mingling  of  pathos,  poetry,  and  humour,  and  so  much 
dignity  in  the  sketching  of  the  human  characters  intro- 
duced. The  rest  of  the  piece  consists  in  the  exhibition 
of  a  vast  amount  of  topographical  and  legendary  lore 
by  Keelta,  attended  by  the  invariable  "  Success  and 
benediction  attend  thee  !  "  of  Patrick. 

They  move  together,  the  warrior  and  the  saint,  on 

1  Translation  by  S.  H.  O'Grady. 

283 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Patrick's  journey  to  Tara,  and  whenever  Patrick  or 
some  one  else  in  the  company  sees  a  hill  or  a  fort 
or  a  well  he  asks  Keelta  what  it  is,  and  Keelta  tells 
its  name  and  a  Fian  legend  to  account  for  it,  and  so  the 
story  wanders  on  through  a  maze  of  legendary  lore  until 
they  are  met  by  a  company  from  Tara,  with  the  king  at 
its  head,  who  then  takes  up  the  role  of  questioner.  The 
"Colloquy,"  as  we  have  it  now,  breaks  off  abruptly  as 
the  story  how  the  Lia  Fail  was  carried  off  from  Ireland 
is  about  to  be  narrated.1  The  interest  of  the  "Colloquy" 
lies  in  the  tales  of  Keelta  and  the  lyrics  introduced  in  the 
course  of  them.  Of  the  tales  there  are  about  a  hundred, 
telling  of  Fian  raids  and  battles,  and  love-makings  and 
feastings,  but  the  greater  number  of  them  have  to  do 
with  the  intercourse  between  the  Fairy  Folk  and  the 
Fianna.  With  these  folk  the  Fianna  have  constant 
relations,  both  of  love  and  of  war.  Some  of  the  tales  are 
of  great  elaboration,  wrought  out  in  the  highest  style  of 
which  the  writer  was  capable.  One  of  the  best  is  that 
of  the  fairy  Brugli,  or  mansion  of  Slievenamon,  which 
Patrick  and  Keelta  chance  to  pass  by,  and  of  which  Keelta 
tells  the  following  history  : 

The  Brugh  of  Slievenamon 

One  day  as  Finn  and  Keelta  and  five  other  champions 
of  the  Fianna  were  hunting  at  Torach,  in  the  north, 
they  roused  a  beautiful  fawn  which  fled  before  them, 
they  holding  it  in  chase  all  day,  till  they  reached  the 
mountain  of  Slievenamon  towards  evening,  when  the 
fawn  suddenly  seemed  to  vanish  underground.  A 
chase  like  this,  in  the  Ossianic  literature,  is  the  common 
prelude  to  an  adventure  in  Fairyland.  Night  now 
fell  rapidly,  and  with  it  came  heavy  snow  and  storm, 
and,  searching  for  shelter,  the  Fianna  discovered  in  the 

1  See  p.  105. 
284 


THE  BRUGH  OF  SLIEVENAMON 

wood    a    great    illuminated  Brugh,  or  mansion,  where 
they    sought    admittance.      On    entering     they    found 
themselves  in  a  spacious  hall,  full  of  light,  with  eight- 
and-twenty    warriors   and    as    many    fair    and    yellow- 
haired  maidens,  one  of  the  latter  seated  on  a  chair  of 
crystal,  and  making  wonderful  music  on  a  harp.     After 
the  Fian  warriors  have  been  entertained  with  the  finest 
of  viands  and  liquors,  it  is  explained  to  them  that  their 
hosts    are  Donn,    son   of   Midir   the  Proud,    and    his 
brother,  and  that  they  are  at  war  with  the  rest  of  the 
Danaan  Folk,  and  have  to  do  battle  with  them  thrice 
yearly  on  the  green  before  the  Brugh.     At  first  each  of 
the  twenty-eight  had  a  thousand  warriors  under  him. 
Now  all  are  slain  except  those  present,  and  the  survivors 
have  sent  out  one  of  their  maidens  in  the  shape  of  a 
fawn  [to  entice  the  Fianna  to  their  fairy  palace  and  to 
gain    their   aid    in    the    battle  that  must  be  delivered 
to-morrow.     We  have,   in  fact,  a  variant  of  the  well- 
known  theme  of  the  Rescue  of  Fairyland.     Finn  and 
his    companions    are    always    ready   for  a  fray,  and  ^  a 
desperate  battle  ensues  which  lasts   from  evening  till 
morning,    for   the    fairy    host    attack   at    night.      The 
assailants    are    beaten   off,  losing    over  a  thousand  of 
their  number  ;  but  Oscar,  Dermot,  and  mac  Luga  are 
sorely  wounded.     They  are  healed  by  magical  herbs  ; 
and  more  fighting  and  other  adventures  follow,  until, 
after  a  year  has  passed,  Finn  compels  the  enemy  to 
make    peace    and    give    hostages,    when    the     Fianna 
return  to  earth  and  rejoin  their  fellows.     No  sooner 
has  Keelta  finished  his  tale,  standing  on  the  very  spot 
where  they  had  found  the  fairy  palace  on  the  night  of 
snow,  than  a  young  warrior  is  seen  approaching  them. 
He  is  thus  described  :  "  A  shirt  of  royal  satin  was  next 
his  skin  ;  over  and  outside  it  a  tunic  of  the  same  fabric  ; 
and  a  fringed  crimson  mantle,  confined  with  a  bodkin 

285 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

of  gold,  upon  his  breast  ;  in  his  hand  a  gold-hilted 
sword,  and  a  golden  helmet  on  his  head."  A  delight 
in  the  colour  and  material  splendour  of  life  is  a  very 
marked  feature  in  all  this  literature.  This  splendid 
figure  turns  out  to  be  Donn  mac  Midir,  one  of  the 
eight-and-twenty  whom  Finn  had  succoured,  and  he 
comes  to  do  homage  for  himself  and  his  people  to 
St.  Patrick,  who  accepts  entertainment  from  him  for 
the  night  ;  for  in  the  "  Colloquy "  the  relations  of 
the  Church  and  of  the  Fairy  World  are  very  cordial. 

The  Three  Young  Warriors 

Nowhere  in  Celtic  literature  does  the  love  of  wonder 
and  mystery  find  such  remarkable  expression  as  in 
the  "  Colloquy."  The  writer  of  this  piece  was  a  master 
of  the  touch  that  makes,  as  it  were,  the  solid  framework 
of  things  translucent ;  and  shows  us,  through  it,  gleams 
of  another  world,  mingled  with  ours  yet  distinct,  and 
having  other  laws  and  characteristics.  We  never  get  a 
clue  as  to  what  these  laws  are.  The  Celt  did  not,  in 
Ireland  at  least,  systematise  the  unknown,  but  let  it 
shine  for  a  moment  through  the  opaqueness  of  this 
earth  and  then  withdrew  the  gleam  before  we  under- 
stood what  we  had  seen.  Take,  for  instance,  this 
incident  in  Keelta's  account  of  the  Fianna.  Three 
young  warriors  come  to  take  service  with  Finn, 
accompanied  by  a  gigantic  hound.  They  make  their 
agreement  with  him,  saying  what  services  they  can 
render  and  what  reward  they  expect,  and  they  make  it 
a  condition  that  they  shall  camp  apart  from  the  rest  of 
the  host,  and  that  when  night  has  fallen  no  man  shall 
come  near  them  or  see  them. 

Finn  asks  the^eason  for  this  prohibition,  and  it  is  this: 
of  the  three  warriors  one  has  to  die  each  night,  and  the 
other  two  must  watch  him  ;  therefore  they  would  not 
286 


They  chased  him  to  the  sea-shore" 


286 


THE  FAIR  GIANTESS 

be  disturbed.  There  is  no  explanation  of  this ;  the 
writer  simply  leaves  us  with  the  thrill  of  the  mystery 
upon  us. 

The  Fair  Giantess 

Again,  let  us  turn  to  the  tale  of  the  Fair  Giantess. 
One  day  Finn  and  his  warriors,  while  resting  from  the 
chase  for  their  midday  meal,  saw  coming  towards  them 
a  towering  shape.  It  proved  to  be  a  young  giant 
maiden,  who  gave  her  name  as  Vivionn  (Bebhionn) 
daughter  of  Treon,  from  the  Land  of  Maidens.  The 
gold  rings  on  her  fingers  were  as  thick  as  an  ox's  yoke, 
and  her  beauty  was  dazzling.  When  she  took  off  her 
gilded  helmet,  all  bejewelled,  her  fair,  curling  golden  hair 
broke  out  in  seven  score  tresses,  and  Finn  cried  :  "  Great 
gods  whom  we  adore,  a  huge  marvel  Cormac  and  Ethne 
and  the  women  of  the  Fianna  would  esteem  it  to  see 
Vivionn,  the  blooming  daughter  of  Treon."  The  maiden 
explained  that  she  had  been  betrothed  against  her  will  to 
a  suitor  named  JEda,  son  of  a  neighbouring  king  ;  and 
that  hearing  from  a  fisherman,  who  had  been  blown  to 
her  shores,  of  the  power  and  nobleness  of  Finn,  she  had 
come  to  seek  his  protection.  While  she  was  speaking, 
suddenly  the  Fianna  were  aware  of  another  giant  form 
close  at  hand.  It  was  a  young  man,  smooth-featured 
and  of  surpassing  beauty,  who  bore  a  red  shield  and  a  huge 
spear.  Without  a  word  he  drew  near,  and  before  the 
wondering  Fianna  could  accost  him  he  thrust  his  spear 
through  the  body  of  the  maiden  and  passed  away.  Finn, 
enraged  at  this  violation  of  his  protection,  called  on  his 
chiefs  to  pursue  and  slay  the  murderer.  Keelta  and 
others  chased  him  to  the  sea-shore,  and  followed  him  into 
the  surf,  but  he  strode  out  to  sea,  and  was  met  by  a 
great  galley  which  bore  him  away  to  unknown  regions. 
Returning,  discomfited,  to  Finn,    they  found  the  girl 

287 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

dying.  She  distributed  her  gold  and  jewels  among  them, 
and  the  Fianna  buried  her  under  a  great  mound,  and 
raised  a  pillar  stone  over  her  with  her  name  in  Ogham 
letters,  in  the  place  since  called  the  Ridge  of  the  Dead 
Woman. 

In  this  tale  we  have,  besides  the  element  of  mystery, 
that  of  beauty.  It  is  an  association  of  frequent  occurrence 
in  this  period  of  Celtic  literature  ;  and  to  this,  perhaps, 
is  due  the  fact  that  although  these  tales  seem  to  come 
from  nowhither  and  to  lead  nowhither,  but  move  in  a 
dream-world  where  there  is  no  chase  but  seems  to  end  in 
Fairyland  and  no  combat  that  has  any  relation  to  earthly 
needs  or  objects,  where  all  realities  are  apt  to  dissolve  in 
a  magic  light  and  to  change  their  shapes  like  morning 
mist,  yet  they  linger  in  the  memory  with  that  haunting 
charm  which  has  for  many  centuries  kept  them  alive  by 
the  fireside  of  the  Gaelic  peasant. 

St.  Patrick,  Oisin,  and  Keelta 

Before  we  leave  the  "  Colloquy  "  another  interesting 
point  must  be  mentioned  in  connexion  with  it.  To  the 
general  public  probably  the  best-known  things  in  Ossianic 
literature — I  refer,  of  course,  to  the  true  Gaelic  poetry 
which  goes  under  that  name,  not  to  the  pseudo-Ossian 
of  Macpherson — are  those  dialogues  in  which  the  pagan 
and  the  Christian  ideals  are  contrasted,  often  in  a  spirit  of 
humorous  exaggeration  or  of  satire.  The  earliest  of  these 
pieces  are  found  in  the  manuscript  called  "  The  Dean  of 
Lismore's  Book,"  in  which  James  Macgregor,  Dean  of 
Lismore  in  Perthshire,  wrote  down,  some  time  before  the 
year  1 5 1 8,  all  he  could  remember  or  discover  of  traditional 
Gaelic  poetry  in  his  time.  It  may  be  observed  that  up  to 
this  period,  and,  indeed,  long  after  it,  Scottish  and  Irish 
Gaelic  were  one  language  and  one  literature,  the  great 
written  monuments  of  which  were  in  Ireland,  though  they 
288 


,.  . .       ^ 


The  Fianna  raised  a  pillar  stone  with  her  name  in  Ogham  letters 


ST.  PATRICK,  OISIN,  AND  KEELTA 

belonged  just  as  much  to  the  Highland  Celt,  and  the 
two  branches  of  the  Gael  had  an  absolutely  common 
stock  of  poetic  tradition.  These  Oisln-and-Patrick 
dialogues  are  found  in  abundance  both  in  Ireland  and 
in  the  Highlands,  though,  as  I  have  said,  "  The  Dean  of 
Lismore's  Book  "  is  their  first  written  record  now  extant. 
What  relation,  then,  do  these  dialogues  bear  to  the 
Keelta-and-Patrick  dialogues  with  which  we  make  ac- 
quaintance in  the  "  Colloquy  "  ?  The  questions  which 
really  came  first,  where  they  respectively  originated,  and 
what  current  of  thought  or  sentiment  each  represented, 
constitute,  as  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt  has  pointed  out,  a  literary 
problem  of  the  greatest  interest ;  and  one  which  no  critic 
has  yet  attempted  to  solve,  or,  indeed,  until  quite  lately, 
even  to  call  attention  to.  For  though  these  two  attempts 
to  represent,  in  imaginative  and  artistic  form,  the  contact 
of  paganism  with  Christianity  are  nearly  identical  in 
machinery  and  framework,  save  that  one  is  in  verse  and 
the  other  in  prose,  yet  they  differ  widely  in  their  point 
of  view. 

In  the  Oism  dialogues *  there  is  a  great  deal  of  rough 
humour  and  of  crude  theology,  resembling  those  of  an 
English  miracle-play  rather  than  any  Celtic  product  that 
I  am  acquainted  with.  St.  Patrick  in  these  ballads,  as 
Mr.  Nutt  remarks,  "  is  a  sour  and  stupid  fanatic,  harping 
with  wearisome  monotony  on  the  damnation  of  Finn 
and  all  his  comrades ;  a  hard  taskmaster  to  the  poor  old 
blind  giant  to  whom  he  grudges  food,  and  upon  whom 
he  plays  shabby  tricks  in  order  to  terrify  him  into  accept- 
ance of  Christianity."  Now  in  the  "Colloquy"  there 
is  not  one  word  of  all  this.  Keelta  embraces  Christianity 
with  a  wholehearted  reverence,  and  salvation  is  not 
denied  to   the  friends  and  companions  of   his  youth. 

1  Examples  of  these  have  been  published,  with  translations,  in  the 
"Transactions  of  the  Ossianic  Society." 

T  289 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Patrick,  indeed,  assures  Keelta  of  the  salvation  of  several 
of  them,  including  Finn  himself.  One  of  the  Danaan 
Folk,  who  has  been  bard  to  the  Fianna,  delighted  Patrick 
with  his  minstrelsy.  Brogan,  the  scribe  whom  St.  Patrick 
is  employing  to  write  down  the  Fian  legends,  says :  "  If 
music  there  is  in  heaven,  why  should  there  not  be  on 
earth  ?  Wherefore  it  is  not  right  to  banish  minstrelsy." 
Patrick  made  answer  :  "  Neither  say  I  any  such  thing  "  ; 
and,  in  fact,  the  minstrel  is  promised  heaven  for  his  art. 
Such  are  the  pleasant  relations  that  prevail  in  the 
<c  Colloquy "  between  the  representatives  of  the  two 
epochs.  Keelta  represents  all  that  is  courteous,  dignified, 
generous,  and  valorous  in  paganism,  and  Patrick  all  that 
is  benign  and  gracious  in  Christianity  ;  and  instead  of 
the  two  epochs  standing  over  against  each  other  in 
violent  antagonism,  and  separated  by  an  impassable 
gulf,  all  the  finest  traits  in  each  are  seen  to  harmonise 
with  and  to  supplement  those  of  the  other. 

Tales  of  Dermot 

A  number  of  curious  legends  centre  on  Dermot 
O'Dyna,  who  has  been  referred  to  as  one  of  Finn  mac 
Cumhal's  most  notable  followers.  He  might  be  described 
as  a  kind  of  Gaelic  Adonis,  a  type  of  beauty  and  attrac- 
tion, the  hero  of  innumerable  love  tales  ;  and,  like 
Adonis,  his  death  was  caused  by  a  wild  boar. 

The  Boat1  of  Ben  Bulben 

The  boar  was  no  common  beast.  The  story  of  its 
origin  was  as  follows  :  Dermot's  father,  Donn,  gave  the 
child  to  be  nurtured  by  Angus  Og  in  his  palace  on  the 
Boyne.  His  mother,  who  was  unfaithful  to  Donn,  bore 
another  child  to  Roc,  the  steward  of  Angus.  Donn, 
one  day,  when  the  steward's  child  ran  between  his  knees 
to  escape  from  some  hounds  that  were  fighting  on  the 
290 


HOW  DERMOT  GOT  THE  LOVE  SPOT 

floor  of  the  hall,  gave  him  a  squeeze  with  his  two  knees 
that  killed  him  on  the  spot,  and  he  then  flung  the  body 
among  the  hounds  on  the  floor.  When  the  steward 
found  his  son  dead,  and  discovered  (with  Finn's  aid) 
the  cause  of  it,  he  brought  a  Druid  rod  and  smote  the 
body  with  it,  whereupon,  in  place  of  the  dead  child, 
there  arose  a  huge  boar,  without  ears  or  tail  ;  and  to  it 
he  spake  :  "  I  charge  you  to  bring  Dermot  O'Dyna  to 
his  death  " ;  and  the  boar  rushed  out  from  the  hall  and 
roamed  in  the  forests  of  Ben  Bulben  in  Co.  Sligo  till  the 
time  when  his  destiny  should  be  fulfilled. 

But  Dermot  grew  up  into  a  splendid  youth,  tireless 
in  the  chase,  undaunted  in  war,  beloved  by  all  his  com- 
rades of  the  Fianna,  whom  he  joined  as  soon  as  he  was 
of  age  to  do  so. 

How  Dermot  Got  the  Love  Spot 

He  was  called  Dermot  of  the  Love  Spot,  and  a 
curious  and  beautiful  folk-tale  recorded  by  Dr.  Douglas 
Hyde  1  tells  how  he  got  this  appellation.  With  three 
comrades,  Goll,  Conan,  and  Oscar,  he  was  hunting  one 
day,  and  late  at  night  they  sought  a  resting-place.  They 
soon  found  a  hut,  in  which  were  an  old  man,  a  young 
girl,  a  wether  sheep,  and  a  cat.  Here  they  asked  for 
hospitality,  and  it  was  granted  to  them.  But,  as  usual 
in  these  tales,  it  was  a  house  of  mystery. 

When  they  sat  down  to  dinner  the  wether  got  up  and 
mounted  on  the  table.  One  after  another  the  Fianna 
strove  to  throw  it  off,  but  it  shook  them  down  on  the 
floor.  At  last  Goll  succeeded  in  flinging  it  off" the  table, 
but  him  too  it  vanquished  in  the  end,  and  put  them 
all  under  its  feet.     Then  the  old  man  bade  the  cat  lead 

1  Taken  down  from  the  recital  of  a  peasant  in  Co.  Galway  and 
published  at  Rennes  in  Dr.  Hyde's  "  An  Sgeuluidhe  Gaodhalach," 
vol.  ii.  (no  translation). 

291 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  wether  back  and  fasten  it  up,  and  it  did  so  easily. 
The  four  champions,  overcome  with  shame,  were  for 
leaving  the  house  at  once  ;  but  the  old  man  explained 
that  they  had  suffered  no  discredit — the  wether  they 
had  been  fighting  with  was  the  World,  and  the  cat  was 
the  power  that  would  destroy  the  world  itself,  namely, 
Death. 

At  night  the  four  heroes  went  to  rest  in  a  large 
chamber,  and  the  young  maid  came  to  sleep  in  the  same 
room  ;  and  it  is  said  that  her  beauty  made  a  light  on  the 
walls  of  the  room  like  a  candle.  One  after  another  the 
Fianna  went  over  to  her  couch,  but  she  repelled  them 
all.  "I  belonged  to  you  once,"  she  said  to  each, 
"  and  I  never  will  again."  Last  of  all  Dermot  went. 
"  O  Dermot,"  she  said,  "  you,  also,  I  belonged  to  once, 
and  I  never  can  again,  for  I  am  Youth ;  but  come  here 
and  I  will  put  a  mark  on  you  so  that  no  woman  can 
ever  see  you  without  loving  you."  Then  she  touched 
his  forehead,  and  left  the  Love  Spot  there  ;  and  that 
drew  the  love  of  women  to  him  as  long  as  he  lived. 

The  Chase  of  the  Hard  Gilly 

The  Chase  of  the  Gilla  Dacar  is  another  Fian  tale  in 
which  Dermot  plays  a  leading  part.  The  Fianna,  the 
story  goes,  were  hunting  one  day  on  the  hills  and 
through  the  woods  of  Munster,  and  as  Finn  and  his 
captains  stood  on  a  hillside  listening  to  the  baying  of 
the  hounds,  and  the  notes  of  the  Fian  hunting-horn 
from  the  dark  wood  below,  they  saw  coming  towards 
them  a  huge,  ugly,  misshapen  churl  dragging  along  by 
a  halter  a  great  raw-boned  mare.  He  announced  him- 
self as  wishful  to  take  service  with  Finn.  The  name 
he  was  called  by,  he  said,  was  the  Gilla  Dacar  (the  Hard 
Gilly),  because  he  was  the  hardest  servant  ever  a  lord 
had  to  get  service  or  obedience  from.  In  spite  of  this 
292 


DERMOT  AT  THE  WELL 

unpromising  beginning,  Finn,  whose  principle  it  was 
never  to  refuse  any  suitor,  took  him  into  service  ;  and 
the  Fianna  now  began  to  make  their  uncouth  comrade  the 
butt  of  all  sorts  of  rough  jokes,  which  ended  in  thirteen 
of  them,  including  Conan  the  Bald,  all  mounting  up  on 
the  Gilla  Dacar's  steed.  On  this  the  newcomer  com- 
plained that  he  was  being  mocked,  and  he  shambled 
away  in  great  discontent  till  he  was  over  the  ridge  of 
the  hill,  when  he  tucked  up  his  skirts  and  ran  westwards, 
faster  than  any  March  wind,  toward  the  sea-shore  in 
Co.  Kerry.  Thereupon  at  once  the  steed,  which  had 
stood  still  with  drooping  ears  while  the  thirteen  riders 
in  vain  belaboured  it  to  make  it  move,  suddenly 
threw  up  its  head  and  started  off  in  a  furious  gallop 
after  its  master.  The  Fianna  ran  alongside,  as  well 
as  they  could  for  laughter,  while  Conan,  in  terror 
and  rage,  reviled  them  for  not  rescuing  him  and  his 
comrades.  At  last  the  thing  became  serious.  The  Gilla 
Dacar  plunged  into  the  sea,  and  the  mare  followed  him 
with  her  thirteen  riders,  and  one  more  who  managed  to 
cling  to  her  tail  just  as  she  left  the  shore;  and  all  of 
them  soon  disappeared  towards  the  fabled  region  of  the 
West. 

Dermot  at  the  Well 

Finn  and  the  remaining  Fianna  now  took  counsel 
together  as  to  what  should  be  done,  and  finally  decided 
to  fit  out  a  ship  and  go  in  search  of  their  comrades. 
After  many  days  of  voyaging  they  reached  an  island 
guarded  by  precipitous  cliffs.  Dermot  O'Dyna,  as  the 
most  agile  of  the  party,  was  sent  to  climb  them  and  to 
discover,  if  he  could,  some  means  of  helping  up  the 
rest  of  the  party.  When  he  arrived  at  the  top  he  found 
himself  in  a  delightful  land,  full  of  the  song  of  birds 
and  the  humming  of  bees  and  the  murmur  of  streams, 

293 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

but  with  no  sign  of  habitation.  Going  into  a  dark 
forest,  he  soon  came  to  a  well,  by  which  hung  a  curiously- 
wrought  drinking-horn.  As  he  filled  it  to  drink,  a  low, 
threatening  murmur  came  from  the  well,  but  his  thirst 
was  too  keen  to  let  him  heed  it  and  he  drank  his  fill. 
In  no  long  time  there  came  through  the  wood  an  armed 
warrior,  who  violently  upbraided  him  for  drinking  from 
his  well.  The  Knight  of  the  Well  and  Dermot  then 
fought  all  the  afternoon  without  either  of  them  prevail- 
ing over  the  other,  when,  as  evening  drew  on,  the  knight 
suddenly  leaped  into  the  well  and  disappeared.  Next 
day  the  same  thing  happened  ;  on  the  third,  however, 
Dermot,  as  the  knight  was  about  to  take  his  leap,  flung 
his  arms  round  him,  and  both  went  down  together. 

The  Rescue  of  Fairyland 

Dermot,  after  a  moment  of  darkness  and  trance,  now 
found  himself  in  Fairyland.  A  man  of  noble  appearance 
roused  him  and  led  him  away  to  the  castle  of  a  great  king, 
where  he  was  hospitably  entertained.  It  was  explained 
to  him  that  the  services  of  a  champion  like  himself  were 
needed  to  do  combat  against  a  rival  monarch  of  Faery. 
It  is  the  same  motive  which  we  find  in  the  adventures 
of  Cuchulain  with  Fand,  and  which  so  frequently  turns 
up  in  Celtic  fairy  lore.  Finn  and  his  companions,  finding 
that  Dermot  did  not  return  to  them,  found  their  way 
up  the  clifFs,  and,  having  traversed  the  forest,  entered  a 
great  cavern  which  ultimately  led  them  out  to  the  same 
land  as  that  in  which  Dermot  had  arrived.  There  too, 
they  are  informed,  are  the  fourteen  Fianna  who  had 
been  carried  off  on  the  mare  of  the  Hard  Gilly.  He, 
of  course,  was  the  king  who  needed  their  services,  and 
who  had  taken  this  method  of  decoying  some  thirty  of 
the  flower  of  Irish  fighting  men  to  his  side.  Finn  and 
his  men  go  into  the  battle  with  the  best  of  goodwill, 

2Q4 


Dermot  took  the  Horn  and  filled  it 


294 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  IRISH  LITERATURE 

and  scatter  the  enemy  like  chaff;  Oscar  slays  the  son 
of  the  rival  king  (who  is  called  the  King  of  "Greece"). 
Finn  wins  the  love  of  his  daughter,  Tasha  of  the  White 
Arms,  and  the  story  closes  with  a  delightful  mixture  of 
gaiety  and  mystery.  "  What  reward  wilt  thou  have  for 
thy  good  services  ?"  asks  the  fairy  king  of  Finn.  "Thou 
wert  once  in  service  with  me,"  replies  Finn,  "and  I 
mind  not  that  I  gave  thee  any  recompense.  Let  one 
service  stand  against  the  other."  "  Never  shall  I  agree 
to  that,"  cries  Conan  the  Bald.  "  Shall  I  have  nought 
for  being  carried  off  on  thy  wild  mare  and  haled  over- 
sea ?  "  "  What  wilt  thou  have  ?  "  asks  the  fairy  king. 
"  None  of  thy  gold  or  goods,"  replies  Conan,  "  but 
mine  honour  hath  suffered,  and  let  mine  honour  be 
appeased.  Set  thirteen  of  thy  fairest  womenfolk  on  the 
wild  mare,  O  King,  and  thine  own  wife  clinging  to  her 
tail,  and  let  them  be  transported  to  Erin  in  like  manner 
as  we  were  dragged  here,  and  I  shall  deem  the  indignity 
we  have  suffered  fitly  atoned  for."  On  this  the  king 
smiled  and,  turning  to  Finn,  said  :  "  O  Finn,  behold 
thy  men."  Finn  turned  to  look  at  them,  but  when  he 
looked  round  again  the  scene  had  changed — the  fairy 
king  and  his  host  and  all  the  world  of  Faery  had 
disappeared,  and  he  found  himself  with  his  companions 
and  the  fair-armed  Tasha  standing  on  the  beach  of  the 
little  bay  in  Kerry  whence  the  Hard  Gilly  and  the  mare 
had  taken  the  water  and  carried  off  his  men.  And  then 
all  started  with  cheerful  hearts  for  the  great  standing 
camp  of  the  Fianna  on  the  Hill  of  Allen  to  celebrate 
the  wedding  feast  of  Finn  and  Tasha. 

Effect  of  Christianity  on  the  Development  of  Irish  Literature 

This  tale  with  its  fascinating  mixture   of  humour, 

romance,  magic,  and  love  of  wild  nature,  may  be  taken 

as  a  typical  specimen  of  the  Fian  legends  at  their  best. 

295 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

As  compared  with  the  Conorian  legends  they  show,  as 
I  have  pointed  out,  a  characteristic  lack  of  any  heroic  or 
serious  element.  That  nobler  strain  died  out  with  the 
growing  predominance  of  Christianity,  which  appro- 
priated for  definitely  religious  purposes  the  more  serious 
and  lofty  side  of  the  Celtic  genius,  leaving  for  secular 
literature  only  the  elements  of  wonder  and  romance. 
So  completely  was  this  carried  out  that  while  the  Finn 
legends  have  survived  to  this  day  among  the  Gaelic- 
speaking  population,  and  were  a  subject  of  literary  treat- 
ment as  long  as  Gaelic  was  written  at  all,  the  earlier  cycle 
perished  almost  completely  out  of  the  popular  remem- 
brance, or  survived  only  in  distorted  forms  ;  and  but 
for  the  early  manuscripts  in  which  the  tales  are  fortunately 
enshrined  such  a  work  as  the  "Tain  Bo  Cuailgne" — the 
greatest  thing  undoubtedly  which  the  Celtic  genius  ever 
produced  in  literature — would  now  be  irrecoverably  lost. 

The  Tales  of  Deirdre  and  of  Grania 

Nothing  can  better  illustrate  the  difference  between 
the  two  cycles  than  a  comparison  of  the  tale  of  Deirdre 
with  that  with  which  we  have  now  to  deal — the  tale 
of  Dermot  and  Grania.  The  latter,  from  one  point 
of  view,  reads  like  an  echo  of  the  former,  so  close  is 
the  resemblance  between  them  in  the  outline  of  the 
plot.  Take  the  following  skeleton  story  :  "  A  fair 
maiden  is  betrothed  to  a  renowned  and  mighty  suitor 
much  older  than  herself.  She  turns  from  him  to  seek 
a  younger  lover,  and  fixes  her  attention  on  one  of  his 
followers,  a  gallant  and  beautiful  youth,  whom  she  per- 
suades, in  spite  of  his  reluctance,  to  fly  with  her.  After 
evading  pursuit  they  settle  down  for  a  while  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  defrauded  lover,  who  bides  his  time,  till 
at  last,  under  cover  of  a  treacherous  reconciliation,  he 
procures  the  death  of  his  younger  rival  and  retakes 
296 


GRANIA  AND  DERMOT 

possession  of  the  lady."  Were  a  student  of  Celtic 
legend  asked  to  listen  to  the  above  synopsis,  and  to  say 
to  what  Irish  tale  it  referred,  he  would  certainly  reply 
that  it  must  be  either  the  tale  of  the  Pursuit  of  Dermot 
and  Grania,  or  that  of  the  Fate  of  the  Sons  of  Usna  ; 
but  which  of  them  it  was  it  would  be  quite  impossible 
for  him  to  tell.  Yet  in  tone  and  temper  the  two  stories 
are  as  wide  apart  as  the  poles. 

Grania  and  Dermot 

Grania,  in  the  Fian  story,  is  the  daughter  of  Cormac 
mac  Art,  High  King  of  Ireland.  She  is  betrothed  to 
Finn  mac  Cumhal,  whom  we  are  to  regard  at  this  period 
as  an  old  and  war-worn  but  still  mighty  warrior.  The 
famous  captains  of  the  Fianna  all  assemble  at  Tara  for 
the  wedding  feast,  and  as  they  sit  at  meat  Grania  surveys 
them  and  asks  their  names  of  her  father's  Druid,  Dara. 
"  It  is  a  wonder,"  she  says,  "that  Finn  did  not  ask  me 
for  Oisin,  rather  than  for  himself."  "  Oisln  would  not 
dare  to  take  thee,"  says  Dara.  Grania,  after  going 
through  all  the  company,  asks  :  "  Who  is  that  man  with 
the  spot  on  his  brow,  with  the  sweet  voice,  with  curling 
dusky  hair  and  ruddy  cheek?"  "That  is  Dermot 
O'Dyna,"  replies  the  Druid,  "the  white-toothed,  of 
the  lightsome  countenance,  in  all  the  world  the  best 
lover  of  women  and  maidens."  Grania  now  prepares 
a  sleepy  draught,  which  she  places  in  a  drinking-cup 
and  passes  round  by  her  handmaid  to  the  king,  to  Finn, 
and  to  all  the  company  except  the  chiefs  of  the  Fianna. 
When  the  draught  has  done  its  work  she  goes  to  Oisln. 
"  Wilt  thou  receive  courtship  from  me,  Oisln  ? "  she 
asks.  "That  will  I  not,"  says  Oisln,  "nor  from  any 
woman  that  is  betrothed  to  Finn."  Grania,  who  knew 
very  well  what  Oisln's  answer  would  be,  now  turns  to 
her  real  mark,   Dermot.      He  at  first  refuses  to  have 

297 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

anything  to  do  with  her.     "  I  put  thee  under  bonds 
[geise],  O  Dermot,  that  thou  take  me  out  of  Tara  to- 
night."   "  Evil  are  these  bonds,  Grania,"  says  Dermot ; 
"  and  wherefore  hast  thou  put  them  on  me  before  all 
the  kings'  sons  that  feast  at  this  table  ?  "     Grania  then 
explains  that  she  has  loved  Dermot  ever  since  she  saw 
him,  years  ago,  from  her  sunny  bower,  take  part  in  and 
win   a  great    hurling    match    on    the   green    at  Tara. 
Dermot,  still  very  reluctant,  pleads  the  merits  of  Finn, 
and   urges  also   that  Finn  has  the  keys  of  the  royal 
fortress,  so  that  they  cannot  pass  out  at  night.    "  There 
is  a  secret  wicket-gate  in  my  bower,"  says  Grania.     "  I 
am  under  geise  not  to  pass  through  any  wicket-gate," 
replies   Dermot,  still    struggling   against    his  destiny. 
Grania  will  have  none  of  these  subterfuges — any  Fian 
warrior,  she  has  been  told,  can  leap  over  a  palisade  with 
the  aid  of  his  spear  as  a  jumping-pole  ;  and  she  goes  off 
to  make  ready  for  the  elopement.      Dermot,  in  great 
perplexity,   appeals   to   Oisln,   Oscar,  Keelta,   and  the 
others  as  to  what  he  should  do.      They  all  bid  him 
keep    his  geise — the    bonds   that   Grania   had  laid    on 
him  to  succour  her — and  he  takes  leave  of  them  with 
tears. 

Outside  the  wicket-gate  he  again  begs  Grania  to 
return.  "  It  is  certain  that  I  will  not  go  back,"  says 
Grania,  "  nor  part  from  thee  till  death  part  us."  "Then 
go  forward,  O  Grania,"  says  Dermot.  After  they  had 
gone  a  mile,  "  I  am  truly  weary,  O  grandson  of  Dyna," 
says  Grania.  "It  is  a  good  time  to  be  weary,"  says 
Dermot,  making  a  last  effort  to  rid  himself  of  the 
entanglement,  "  and  return  now  to  thy  household  again, 
for  I  pledge  the  word  of  a  true  warrior  that  I  will  never 
carry  thee  nor  any  other  woman  to  all  eternity.  "  There 
is  no  need,"  replies  Grania,  and  she  directs  him  where 
to  find  horses  and  a  chariot,  and  Dermot,  now  finally 
298 


Dermot  and  Grania 


THE  PURSUIT 

accepting  the  inevitable,  yokes  them,  and  they  proceed 
on  their  way  to  the  Ford  of  Luan  on  the  Shannon.1 

The  Pursuit 

Next  day  Finn,  burning  with  rage,  sets  out  with  his 
warriors  on  their  track.     He  traces  out  each  of  their 
halting-places,    and    finds    the    hut    of    wattles    which 
Dermot  has  made  for  their  shelter,  and  the  bed  of  soft 
rushes,  and  the  remains  of  the  meal  they  had  eaten. 
And  at  each  place  he  finds  a  piece  of  unbroken  bread 
or     uncooked    salmon — Dermot's    subtle    message    to 
Finn  that  he  has  respected  the  rights  of  his  lord  and 
treated  Grania  as  a  sister.    But  this  delicacy  of  Dermot's 
is  not  at   all  to  Grania's  mind,  and  she  conveys  her 
wishes  to  him  in  a  manner  which  is  curiously  paralleled 
by  an    episode    in    the   tale  of  Tristan  and  Iseult    of 
Brittany,  as  told  by  Heinrich  von  Freiberg.     They  are 
passing  through  a  piece  of  wet  ground  when  a  splash 
of  water  strikes  Grania.     She  turns  to  her  companion  : 
"  Thou  art  a  mighty  warrior,  O  Dermot,  in  battle  and 
sieges  and  forays,  yet  meseems  that  this  drop  of  water 
is  bolder   than    thou."     This  hint  that  he   was  keep- 
ing at  too  respectful  a  distance  was  taken  by  Dermot. 
The    die   is  now  cast,   and  he   will  never  again   meet 
Finn  and  his  old  comrades  except  at  the  point  of  the 
spear. 

The  tale  now  loses  much  of  the  originality  and  charm 
of  its  opening  scene,  and  recounts  in  a  somewhat 
mechanical  manner  a  number  of  episodes  in  which 
Dermot  is  attacked  or  besieged  by  the  Fianna,  and 
rescues  himself  and  his  lady  by  miracles  of  boldness  or 
dexterity,  or  by  aid  of  the  magical  devices  of  his  foster- 
father,  Angus  Og.  They  are  chased  all  over  Ireland, 
and  the  dolmens  in  that  country  are  popularly  associated 

1  Now  Athlone  (Atha  Luain). 

299 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

with  them,  being  called  in  the  traditions  of  the  peasantry 
"  Beds  of  Dermot  and  Grania." 

Grania's  character  is  drawn  throughout  with  great 
consistency.  She  is  not  an  heroic  woman — hers  are 
not  the  simple,  ardent  impulses  and  unwavering  devo- 
tion of  a  Deirdre.  The  latter  is  far  more  primitive. 
Grania  is  a  curiously  modern  and  what  would  be  called 
"neurotic"  type — wilful,  restless,  passionate,  but  full 
of  feminine  fascination. 

Dermot  and  Finn  Make  Peace 

After  sixteen  years  of  outlawry  peace  is  at  last  made 
for  Dermot  by  the  mediation  of  Angus  with  King 
Cormac  and  with  Finn.  Dermot  receives  his  proper 
patrimony,  the  Cantred  of  O'Dyna,  and  other  lands 
far  away  in  the  West,  and  Cormac  gives  another  of  his 
daughters  to  Finn.  "  Peaceably  they  abode  a  long  time 
with  each  other,  and  it  was  said  that  no  man  then  living 
was  richer  in  gold  and  silver,  in  flocks  and  herds,  than 
Dermot  O'Dyna,  nor  one  that  made  more  preys."1 
Grania  bears  to  Dermot  four  sons  and  a  daughter. 

But  Grania  is  not  satisfied  until  "  the  two  best  men 
that  are  in  Erin,  namely,  Cormac  son  of  Art  and  Finn 
son  of  Cumhal,"  have  been  entertained  in  her  house. 
"  And  how  do  we  know,"  she  adds,  "  but  our  daughter 
might  then  get  a  fitting  husband  ?  "  Dermot  agrees 
with  some  misgiving  ;  the  king  and  Finn  accept  the 
invitation,  and  they  and  their  retinues  are  feasted  for 
a  year  at  Rath  Grania. 

1  How  significant  is  this  naive  indication  that  the  making  of 
forays  on  his  neighbours  was  regarded  in  Celtic  Ireland  as  the 
natural  and  laudable  occupation  of  a  country  gentleman  !  Compare 
Spenser's  account  of  the  ideals  fostered  by  the  Irish  bards  of  his 
time,  "View  of  the  Present  State  of  Ireland,"  p.  641  (Globe 
edition). 
300 


THE  VENGEANCE  OF  FINN 

The  Vengeance  of  Finn 

Then  one  night,  towards  the  end  of  the  year  of  feast- 
ing, Dermot  is  awakened  from  sleep  by  the  baying  of 
a  hound.  He  starts  up,  "  so  that  Grania  caught  him 
and  threw  her  two  arms  about  him  and  asked  him 
what  he  had  seen."  "  It  is  the  voice  of  a  hound,"  says 
Dermot,  "  and  I  marvel  to  hear  it  in  the  night."  "  Save 
and  protect  thee,"  says  Grania  ;  "  it  is  the  Danaan  Folk 
that  are  at  work  on  thee.  Lay  thee  down  again."  But 
three  times  the  hound's  voice  awakens  him,  and  on  the 
morrow  he  goes  forth  armed  with  sword  and  sling,  and 
followed  by  his  own  hound,  to  see  what  is  afoot. 

On  the  mountain  of  Ben  Bulben  in  Sligo  he  comes 
across  Finn  with  a  hunting-party  of  the  Fianna.  They 
are  not  now  hunting,  however  ;  they  are  being  hunted  ; 
for  they  have  roused  up  the  enchanted  boar  without 
ears  or  tail,  the  Boar  of  Ben  Bulben,  which  has  slain 
thirty  of  them  that  morning.  "  And  do  thou  come 
away,"  says  Finn,  knowing  well  that  Dermot  will  never 
retreat  from  a  danger  ;  "  for  thou  art  under  geise  not  to 
hunt  pig."  "  How  is  that  ?  "  says  Dermot,  and  Finn 
then  tells  him  the  weird  story  of  the  death  of  the 
steward's  son  and  his  revivification  in  the  form  of  this 
boar,  with  its  mission  of  vengeance.  "  By  my  word," 
quoth  Dermot,  "  it  is  to  slay  me  that  thou  hast  made 
this  hunt,  O  Finn  ;  and  if  it  be  here  that  I  am  fated  to 
die,  I  have  no  power  now  to  shun  it." 

The  beast  then  appears  on  the  face  of  the  mountain, 
and  Dermot  slips  the  hound  at  him,  but  the  hound  flies 
in  terror.  Dermot  then  slings  a  stone  which  strikes 
the  boar  fairly  in  the  middle  of  his  forehead  but  does 
not  even  scratch  his  skin.  The  beast  is  close  on  him 
now,  and  Dermot  strikes  him  with  his  sword,  but  the 
weapon  flies  in  two  and  not  a  bristle  of  the  boar  is  cut. 

301 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

In  the  charge  of  the  boar  Dermot  falls  over  him,  and  is 
carried  for  a  space  clinging  to  his  back  ;  but  at  last  the 
boar  shakes  him  off  to  the  ground,  and  making  "  an 
eager,  exceeding  mighty  spring"  upon  him,  rips  out  his 
bowels,  while  at  the  same  time,  with  the  hilt  of  the 
sword  still  in  his  hand,  Dermot  dashes  out  the  brains 
of  the  beast,  and  it  falls  dead  beside  him. 

Death  of  Dermot 

The  implacable  Finn  then  comes  up,  and  stands  over 
Dermot  in  his  agony.  "  It  likes  me  well  to  see  thee  in 
that  plight,  O  Dermot,"  he  says,  "  and  I  would  that  all 
the  women  in  Ireland  saw  thee  now  ;  for  thy  excellent 
beauty  is  turned  to  ugliness  and  thy  choice  form  to 
deformity."  Dermot  reminds  Finn  of  how  he  once 
rescued  him  from  deadly  peril  when  attacked  during 
a  feast  at  the  house  of  Derc,  and  begs  him  to  heal 
him  with  a  draught  of  water  from  his  hands,  for  Finn 
had  the  magic  gift  of  restoring  any  wounded  man  to 
health  with  a  draught  of  well-water  drawn  in  his  two 
hands.  "  Here  is  no  well,"  says  Finn.  "  That  is  not 
true,"  says  Dermot,  "for  nine  paces  from  you  is  the 
best  well  of  pure  water  in  the  world."  Finn,  at  last, 
on  the  entreaty  of  Oscar  and  the  Fianna,  and  after  the 
recital  of  many  deeds  done  for  his  sake  by  Dermot  in 
old  days,  goes  to  the  well,  but  ere  he  brings  the  water 
to  Dermot's  side  he  lets  it  fall  through  his  fingers.  A 
second  time  he  goes,  and  a  second  time  he  lets  the 
water  fall,  "  having  thought  upon  Grania,"  and  Dermot 
gave  a  sigh  of  anguish  on  seeing  it.  Oscar  then 
declares  that  if  Finn  does  not  bring  the  water  promptly 
either  he  or  Finn  shall  never  leave  the  hill  alive,  and 
Finn  goes  once  more  to  the  well,  but  it  is  now  too  late  ; 
Dermot  is  dead  before  the  healing  draught  can  reach 
his  lips.  Then  Finn  takes  the  hound  of  Dermot,  the 
302 


And  the   Fianna  troop  away,  leaving  her  to  her  sorrow"     302 


THE  END  OF  GRANIA 

chiefs  of  the  Fianna  lay  their  cloaks  over  the  dead  man, 
and  they  return  to  Rath  Grania.  Grania,  seeing  the 
hound  led  by  Finn,  conjectures  what  has  happened,  and 
swoons  upon  the  rampart  of  the  Rath.  Oisin,  when 
she  has  revived,  gives  her  the  hound,  against  Finn's 
will,  and  the  Fianna  troop  away,  leaving  her  to  her 
sorrow.  When  the  people  of  Crania's  household  go 
out  to  fetch  in  the  body  of  Dermot  they  find  there 
Angus  Og  and  his  company  of  the  People  of  Dana, 
who,  after  raising  three  bitter  and  terrible  cries,  bear 
away  the  body  on  a  gilded  bier,  and  Angus  declares 
that  though  he  cannot  restore  the  dead  to  life,  "  I  will 
send  a  soul  into  him  so  that  he  may  talk  with  me 
each  day." 

The  End  of  Grania 

To  a  tale  like  this  modern  taste  demands  a  romantic 
and  sentimental  ending  ;  and  such  has  actually  been 
given  to  it  in  the  retelling  by  Dr.  P.  W.  Joyce  in  his 
"Old  Celtic  Romances," as  it  has  to  the  tale  of  Deirdre 
by  almost  every  modern  writer  who  has  handled  it.1 
But  the  Celtic  story-teller  felt  differently.  The  tale  of 
the  end  of  Deirdre  is  horribly  cruel,  that  of  Grania 
cynical  and  mocking  ;  neither  is  in  the  least  sentimental. 
Grania  is  at  first  enraged  with  Finn,  and  sends  her  sons 
abroad  to  learn  feats  of  arms,  so  that  they  may  take 
vengeance  upon  him  when  the  time  is  ripe.  But  Finn, 
wily  and  far-seeing  as  he  is  portrayed  in  this  tale,  knows 
how  to  forestall  this  danger.  When  the  tragedy  on  Ben 
Bulben  has  begun  to  grow  a  little  faint  in  the  shallow 
soul  of  Grania,  he  betakes  himself  to  her,  and  though 
met  at  first  with  scorn  and  indignation  he  woos  her  so 
sweetly  and  with  such  tenderness  that  at  last  he  brings 

1  Dr.  John  Todhunter,  in  his  "Three  Irish  Bardic  Tales,"  has 
alone,  I  think,  kept  the  antique  ending  of  the  tale  of  Deirdre. 

303 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

her  to  his  will,  and  he  bears  her  back  as  a  bride  to 
the  Hill  of  Allen.  When  the  Fianna  see  the  pair 
coming  towards  them  in  this  loving  guise  they  burst 
into  a  shout  of  laughter  and  derision,  "  so  that  Grania 
bowed  her  head  in  shame."  "We  trow,  O  Finn,"  cries 
Oisin,  "  that  thou  wilt  keep  Grania  well  from  hence- 
forth." So  Grania  made  peace  between  Finn  and  her 
sons,  and  dwelt  with  Finn  as  his  wife  until  he  died. 

Two  Streams  of  Fian  Legends 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  this  legend  Finn  does  not 
appear  as  a  sympathetic  character.  Our  interest  is  all 
on  the  side  of  Dermot.  In  this  aspect  of  it  the  tale  is 
typical  of  a  certain  class  of  Fian  stories.  Just  as  there 
were  two  rival  clans  within  the  Fian  organisation — the 
Clan  Bascna  and  the  Clan  Morna — who  sometimes  came 
to  blows  for  the  supremacy,  so  there  are  two  streams  of 
legends  seeming  to  flow  respectively  from  one  or  other 
of  these  sources,  in  one  of  which  Finn  is  glorified,  while 
in  the  other  he  is  belittled  in  favour  of  Goll  mac  Morna 
or  any  other  hero  with  whom  he  comes  into  conflict. 

End  of  the  Fianna 

The  story  of  the  end  of  the  Fianna  is  told  in  a  number 
of  pieces,  some  prose,  some  poetry,  all  of  them,  how- 
ever, agreeing  in  presenting  this  event  as  apiece  of  sober 
history,  without  any  of  the  supernatural  and  mystical  atmo- 
sphere in  which  nearly  all  the  Fian  legends  are  steeped. 
After  the  death  of  Cormac  mac  Art  his  son  Cairbry 
came  to  the  High-Kingship  of  Ireland.     He  had  a  fair 
daughter  named  Sgeimh  Solais  (Light  of  Beauty),  who 
was  asked  in  marriage  by  a  son  of  the  King  of  the  Decies. 
The  marriage  was  arranged,  and  the  Fianna  claimed 
a  ransom  or  tribute  of  twenty  ingots  of  gold,  which,  it 
is  said,  was  customarily  paid  to  them  on  these  occasions. 
304 


THE  BATTLE  OF  GOWRA 

It  would  seem  that  the  Fianna  had  now  grown  to  be  a 
distinct  power  within  the  State,  and  an  oppressive  one, 
exacting  heavy  tributes  and  burdensome  privileges  from 
kings  and  sub-kings  all  over  Ireland.  Cairbry  resolved 
to  break  them  ;  and  he  thought  he  had  now  a  good 
opportunity  to  do  so.  He  therefore  refused  payment 
of  the  ransom,  and  summoned  all  the  provincial  kings 
to  help  him  against  the  Fianna,  the  main  body  of 
whom  immediately  went  into  rebellion  for  what  they 
deemed  their  rights.  The  old  feud  between  Clan  Bascna 
and  Clan  Morna  now  broke  out  afresh,  the  latter  standing 
by  the  High  King,  while  Clan  Bascna,  aided  by  the  King 
of  Munster  and  his  forces,  who  alone  took  their  side, 
marched  against  Cairbry. 

The  Battle  of  Gowra 

All  this  sounds  very  matter-of-fact  and  probable,  but 
how  much  real  history  there  may  be  in  it  it  is  very  hard 
to  say.  The  decisive  battle  of  the  war  which  ensued 
took  place  at  Gowra  (Gabhra),  the  name  of  which  sur- 
vives in  Garristown,  Co.  Dublin.  The  rival  forces,  when 
drawn  up  in  battle  array,  knelt  and  kissed  the  sacred 
soil  of  Erin  before  they  charged.  The  story  of  the 
battle  tn  the  poetical  versions,  one  of  which  is  published 
in  the  Ossianic  Society's  "  Transactions,"  and  another 
and  finer  one  in  Campbell's  "The  Fians,"  1  is  supposed 
to  be  related  by  Oisin  to  St.  Patrick.  He  lays  great 
stress  on  the  feats  of  his  son  Oscar : 

"  My  son  urged  his  course 
Through  the  battalions  of  Tara 
Like  a  hawk  through  a  flock  of  birds, 
Or  a  rock  descending  a  mountain-side." 

1  "  Waifs  and  Strays  of  Celtic  Tradition,"  Argyllshire  Series. 
The  tale  was  taken  down  in  verse,  word  for  word,  from  the  dictation 
of  Roderick  mac  Fadyen  in  Tiree,  1868. 

u  305 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  Death  of  Oscar 

The  fight  was  a  outrance,  and  the  slaughter  on  both 
sides  tremendous.  None  but  old  men  and  boys,  it  is 
said,  were  left  in  Erin  after  that  fight.  The  Fianna  were 
in  the  end  almost  entirely  exterminated,  and  Oscar  slain. 
He  and  the  King  of  Ireland,  Cairbry,  met  in  single 
combat,  and  each  of  them  slew  the  other.  While  Oscar 
was  still  breathing,  though  there  was  not  a  palm's 
breadth  on  his  body  without  a  wound,  his  father  found 
him  : 

"  I  found  my  own  son  lying  down 

On  his  left  elbow,  his  shield  by  his  side  ; 

His  right  hand  clutched  the  sword, 

The  blood  poured  through  his  mail. 

"  Oscar  gazed  up  at  me — 
Woe  to  me  was  that  sight  ! 
He  stretched  out  his  two  arms  to  me, 
Endeavouring  to  rise  to  meet  me. 

"  I  grasped  the  hand  of  my  son 
And  sat  down  by  his  left  side  ; 
And  since  I  sat  by  him  there, 
I  have  recked  nought  of  the  world." 

When  Finn  (in  the  Scottish  version)  comes  to  bewail 
his  grandson,  he  cries  : 

"  Woe,  that  it  was  not  I  who  fell 
In  the  fight  of  bare  sunny  Gavra, 
And  you  were  east  and  west 
Marching  before  the  Fians,  Oscar." 

But  Oscar  replies  : 

"  Were  it  you  that  fell 
In  the  fight  of  bare  sunny  Gavra, 
One  sigh,  east  or  west, 
Would  not  be  heard  for  you  from  Oscar. 
306 


THE  DEATH  OF  OSCAR 

"  No  man  ever  knew 
A  heart  of  flesh  was  in  my  breast, 
But  a  heart  of  the  twisted  horn 
And  a  sheath  of  steel  over  it. 

11  But  the  howling  of  dogs  beside  me, 
And  the  wail  of  the  old  heroes, 
And  the  weeping  of  the  women  by  turns, 
'Tis  that  vexes  my  heart." 

Oscar  dies,  after  thanking  the  gods  for  his  father's 
safety,  and  Oisln  and  Keelta  raise  him  on  a  bier  of  spears 
and  carry  him  off  under  his  banner,  "The  Terrible 
Sheaf,"  for  burial  on  the  field  where  he  died,  and  where  a 
great  green  burial  mound  is  still  associated  with  his  name. 
Finn  takes  no  part  in  the  battle.  He  is  said  to  have 
come  "  in  a  ship  "  to  view  the  field  afterwards,  and  he 
wept  over  Oscar,  a  thing  he  had  never  done  save  once 
before,  for  his  hound,  Bran,  whom  he  himself  killed 
by  accident.  Possibly  the  reference  to  the  ship  is  an 
indication  that  he  had  by  this  time  passed  away,  and  came 
to  revisit  the  earth  from  the  oversea  kingdom  of  Death. 

There  is  in  this  tale  of  the  Battle  of  Gowra  a  melan- 
choly grandeur  which  gives  it  a  place  apart  in  the 
Ossianic  literature.  It  is  a  fitting  dirge  for  a  great 
legendary  epoch.  Campbell  tells  us  that  the  Scottish 
crofters  and  shepherds  were  wont  to  put  off  their  bonnets 
when  they  recited  it.  He  adds  a  strange  and  thrilling 
piece  of  modern  folk-lore  bearing  on  it.  Two  men,  it  is 
said,  were  out  at  night,  probably  sheep-stealing  or  on 
some  other  predatory  occupation,  and  telling  Fian  tales 
as  they  went,  when  they  observed  two  giant  and  shadowy 
figures  talking  to  each  other  across  the  glen.  One  of 
the  apparitions  said  to  the  other  :  "  Do  you  see  that  man 
down  below  ?  I  was  the  second  door-post  of  battle  on 
the  day  of  Gowra,  and  that  man  there  knows  all  about 
it  better  than  myself." 

307 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  End  of  Finn 

As  to  Finn  himself,  it  is  strange  that  in  all  the 
extant  mass  of  the  Ossianic  literature  there  should  be  no 
complete  narrative  of  his  death.  There  are  references  to 
it  in  the  poetic  legends,  and  annalists  even  date  it,  but 
the  references  conflict  with  each  other,  and  so  do  the 
dates.  There  is  no  clear  light  to  be  obtained  on  the 
subject  from  either  annalists  or  poets.  Finn  seems  to 
have  melted  into  the  magic  mist  which  enwraps  so 
many  of  his  deeds  in  life.  Yet  a  popular  tradition  says 
that  he  and  his  great  companions,  Oscar  and  Keelta  and 
Oisin  and  the  rest,  never  died,  but  lie,  like  Kaiser 
Barbarossa,  spell-bound  in  an  enchanted  cave  where 
they  await  the  appointed  time  to  reappear  in  glory  and 
redeem  their  land  from  tyranny  and  wrong. 


.os 


CHAPTER  VII :  THE  VOYAGE  OF 
MAELDUN 

BESIDES  the  legends  which  cluster  round  great 
heroic  names,  and  have,  or  at  least  pretend  to 
have,  the  character  of  history,  there  are  many 
others,  great  and  small,  which  tell  of  adventures  lying 
purely  in  regions  of  romance,  and  out  of  earthly  space 
and  time.  As  a  specimen  of  these  I  give  here  a 
summary  of  the  "  Voyage  of  Maeldan,"  a  most  curious 
and  brilliant  piece  of  invention,  which  is  found  in  the 
manuscript  entitled  the  "Book  of  the  Dun  Cow" 
(about  noo)  and  other  early  sources,  and  edited,  with 
a  translation  (to  which  I  owe  the  following  extracts), 
by  Dr.  Whitley  Stokes  in  the  "  Revue  Celtique  "  for  1 8  8  8 
and  1889.  It  is  only  one  of  a  number  of  such 
wonder-voyages  found  in  ancient  Irish  literature,  but 
it  is  believed  to  have  been  the  earliest  of  them  all  and 
model  for  the  rest,  and  it  has  had  the  distinction,  in 
the  abridged  and  modified  form  given  by  Joyce  in  his 
"  Old  Celtic  Romances,"  of  having  furnished  the  theme 
for  the  "  Voyage  of  Maeldune "  to  Tennyson,  who 
made  it  into  a  wonderful  creation  of  rhythm  and 
colour,  embodying  a  kind  of  allegory  of  Irish  history. 
It  will  be  noticed  at  the  end  that  we  are  in  the  unusual 
position  of  knowing  the  name  of  the  author  of  this 
piece  of  primitive  literature,  though  he  does  not  claim 
to  have  composed,  but  only  to  have  "put  in  order," 
the  incidents  of  the  "  Voyage."  Unfortunately  we  cannot 
tell  when  he  lived,  but  the  tale  as  we  have  it  probably 
dates  from  the  ninth  century.  Its  atmosphere  is 
entirely  Christian,  and  it  has  no  mythological  signifi- 
cance except  in  so  far  as  it  teaches  the  lesson  that  the 
oracular  injunctions  of  wizards  should  be  obeyed.  No 
adventure,  or  even  detail,  of  importance  is  omitted  in 

309 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  following  summary  of  the  story,  which  is  given 
thus  fully  because  the  reader  may  take  it  as  representing 
a  large  and  important  section  of  Irish  legendary  romance. 
Apart  from  the  source  to  which  I  am  indebted,  the 
"  Revue  Celtique,"  I  know  no  other  faithful  reproduc- 
tion in  English  of  this  wonderful  tale. 

The  "  Voyage  of  Maeldun  "  begins,  as  Irish  tales 
often  do,  by  telling  us  of  the  conception  of  its  hero. 

There  was  a  famous  man  of  the  sept  of  the  Owens 
of  Aran,  named  Ailill  Edge-of-Battle,  who  went  with 
his  king  on  a  foray  into  another  territory.  They 
encamped  one  night  near  a  church  and  convent  of 
nuns.  At  midnight  Ailill,  who  was  near  the  church, 
saw  a  certain  nun  come  out  to  strike  the  bell  for 
nocturns,  and  caught  her  by  the  hand.  In  ancient 
Ireland  religious  persons  were  not  much  respected  in 
time  of  war,  and  Ailill  did  not  respect  her.  When 
they  parted,  she  said  to  him  :  "  Whence  is  thy  race, 
and  what  is  thy  name?"  Said  the  hero:  "Ailill 
of  the  Edge-of-Battle  is  my  name,  and  I  am  of  the 
Owenacht  of  Aran,  in  Thomond." 

Not  long  afterwards  Ailill  was  slain  by  reavers  from 
Leix,  who  burned  the  church  of  Doocloone  over  his  head. 

In  due  time  a  son  was  born  to  the  woman  and  she 
called  his  name  Maeldun.  He  was  taken  secretly  to 
her  friend,  the  queen  of  the  territory,  and  by  her 
Maeldun  was  reared.  "  Beautiful  indeed  was  his 
form,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  there  hath  been  in  flesh 
any  one  so  beautiful  as  he.  So  he  grew  up  till  he  was 
a  young  warrior  and  fit  to  use  weapons.  Great,  then, 
was  his  brightness  and  his  gaiety  and  his  playfulness. 
In  his  play  he  outwent  all  his  comrades  in  throwing 
balls,  and  in  running  and  leaping  and  putting  stones 
and  racing  horses." 

One  day  a  proud  young  warrior  who  had  been 
310 


It  were  better  for  thee  to  avenge  the  man  who  was  burnt  there  " 

310 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  MAELDUN 

defeated  by  him  taunted  him  with  his  lack  of 
knowledge  of  his  kindred  and  descent.  Maeldun 
went  to  his  foster-mother,  the  queen,  and  said  :  "  I 
will  not  eat  nor  drink  till  thou  tell  me  who  are  my 
mother  and  my  father."  "  I  am  thy  mother,"  said  the 
queen,  "  for  none  ever  loved  her  son  more  than  I  love 
thee."  But  Maeldun  insisted  on  knowing  all,  and  the 
queen  at  last  took  him  to  his  own  mother,  the  nun, 
who  told  him  :  "  Thy  father  was  Ailill  of  the  Owens  of 
Aran."  Then  Maeldun  went  to  his  own  kindred,  and 
was  well  received  by  them  ;  and  with  him  he  took  as 
guests  his  three  beloved  foster-brothers,  sons  of  the 
king  and  queen  who  had  brought  him  up. 

After  a  time  Maeldun  happened  to  be  among  a 
company  of  young  warriors  who  were  contending  at 
putting  the  stone  in  the  graveyard  of  the  ruined 
church  of  Doocloone.  Maeldun's  foot  was  planted, 
as  he  heaved  the  stone,  on  a  scorched  and  blackened 
flagstone ;  and  one  who  was  by,  a  monk  named 
Briccne,1  said  to  him  :  "  It  were  better  for  thee  to 
avenge    the   man  who  was   burnt  there  than  to  cast 

stones  over  his  burnt  bones." 

"  Who  was  that  ?  "  asked  Maeldun. 

"  Ailill,  thy  father,"  they  told  him. 

"Who  slew  him  ?"  said  he. 

"  Reavers  from  Leix,"  they  said,  "and  they  destroyed 

him  on  this  spot." 

Then  Maeldun  threw  down  the  stone  he  was  about 

to  cast,  and  put  his  mantle  round  him  and  went  home ; 

and  he  asked  the  way  to  Leix.     They  told  him  he  could 

only  go  there  by  sea.2 

1  Here    we    have  evidently  a    reminiscence  of  Briccriu    of  the 
Poisoned  Tongue,  the  mischief-maker  of  the  Ultonians. 

2  The  Arans  are  three  islands  at  the  entrance  of  Galway  Bay. 
They  are  a  perfect  museum  of  mysterious  ruins. 

3" 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

At  the  advice  of  a  Druid  he  then  built  him  a  boat, 
or  coracle,  of  skins  lapped  threefold  one  over  the 
other  ;  and  the  wizard  also  told  him  that  seventeen 
men  only  must  accompany  him,  and  on  what  day  he 
must  begin  the  boat  and  on  what  day  he  must  put  out 
to  sea. 

So  when  his  company  was  ready  he  put  out  and 
hoisted  the  sail,  but  had  gone  only  a  little  way  when 
his  three  foster-brothers  came  down  to  the  beach  and 
entreated  him  to  take  them.  "  Get  you  home,"  said 
Maeldun,  "  for  none  but  the  number  I  have  may  go 
with  me."  But  the  three  youths  would  not  be  sepa- 
rated from  Maeldun,  and  they  flung  themselves  into  the 
sea.  He  turned  back,  lest  they  should  be  drowned, 
and  brought  them  into  his  boat.  All,  as  we  shall  see, 
were  punished  for  this  transgression,  and  Maeldun  con- 
demned to  wandering  until  expiation  had  been  made. 

Irish  bardic  tales  excel  in  their  openings.  In  this 
case,  as  usual,  the  mise-en-scene  is  admirably  contrived. 
The  narrative  which  follows  tells  how,  after  seeing  his 
father's  slayer  on  an  island,  but  being  unable  to  land 
there,  Maeldun  and  his  party  are  blown  out  to  sea, 
where  they  visit  a  great  number  of  islands  and  have 
many  strange  adventures  on  them.  The  tale  becomes, 
in  fact,  a  cento  of  stories  and  incidents,  some  not  very 
interesting,  while  in  others,  as  in  the  adventure  of 
the  Island  of  the  Silver  Pillar,  or  the  Island  of  the 
Flaming  Rampart,  or  that  where  the  episode  of  the 
eagle  takes  place,  the  Celtic  sense  of  beauty,  romance, 
and  mystery  find  an  expression  unsurpassed,  perhaps, 
in  literature.  *  « 

In  the  following  rendering  I  have  omitted  the  verses 
given  by  Joyce  at  the  end  of  each  adventure.     They 
merely    recapitulate  the  prose   narrative,  and    are    not 
found  in  the  earliest  manuscript  authorities. 
312 


THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  GREAT  BIRDS 

The  Island  of  the  Slayer 

Maeldan  and  his  crew  had  rowed  all  day  and  half 
the  night  when  they  came  to  two  small  bare  islands 
with  two  forts  in  them,  and  a  noise  was  heard  from 
them  of  armed  men  quarrelling.  "Stand  off  from  me," 
cried  one  of  them,  "  for  I  am  a  better  man  than  thou. 
'Twas  I  slew  Ailill  of  the  Edge-of-Battle  and  burned  the 
church  of  Doocloone  over  him,  and  no  kinsman  has 
avenged  his  death  on  me.  And  thou  hast  never  done 
the  like  of  that." 

Then  Maeldan  was  about  to  land,  and  German1  and 
Diuran  the  Rhymer  cried  that  God  had  guided  them 
to  the  spot  where  they  would  be.  But  a  great  wind 
arose  suddenly  and  blew  them  off  into  the  boundless 
ocean,  and  Maeldan  said  to  his  foster-brothers  :  "  Ye 
have  caused  this  to  be,  casting  yourselves  on  board  in 
spite  of  the  words  of  the  Druid."  And  they  had  no 
answer,  save  only  to  be  silent  for  a  little  space. 

The  Island  of  the  Ants 

They  drifted  three  days  and  three  nights,  not 
knowing  whither  to  row,  when  at  the  dawn  of  the  third 
day  they  heard  the  noise  of  breakers,  and  came  to  an 
island  as  soon  as  the  sun  was  up.  Here,  ere  they  could 
land,  they  met  a  swarm  of  ferocious  ants,  each  the  size 
of  a  foal,  that  came  down  the  strand  and  into  the  sea 
to  get  at  them  ;  so  they  made  off  quickly,  and  saw  no 
land  for  three  days  more. 

The  Island  of  the  Great  Birds 

This  was  a  terraced  island,  with  trees  all  round  it, 
and  great  birds  sitting  on  the  trees.     Maeldan  landed 
first  alone,  and  carefully  searched  the  island  for  any 
1  Pronounced  "  Ghermawn  "—the  "  G  "  hard. 

313 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

evil  thing,  but  finding  none,  the  rest  followed  him,  and 
killed  and  ate  many  of  the  birds,  bringing  others  on 
board  their  boat. 

The  Island  of  the  Fierce  Beast 

A  great  sandy  island  was  this,  and  on  it  a  beast  like 
a  horse,  but  with  clawed  feet  like  a  hound's.  He  flew 
at  them  to  devour  them,  but  they  put  off  in  time,  and 
were  pelted  by  the  beast  with  pebbles  from  the  shore 
as  they  rowed  away. 

The  Island  of  the  Giant  Horses 

A  great,  flat  island,  which  it  fell  by  lot  to  German 
and  Diuran  to  explore  first.  They  found  a  vast  green 
racecourse,  on  which  were  the  marks  of  horses'  hoofs, 
each  as  big  as  the  sail  of  a  ship,  and  the  shells  of 
nuts  of  monstrous  size  were  lying  about,  and  much 
plunder.  So  they  were  afraid,  and  took  ship  hastily 
again,  and  from  the  sea  they  saw  a  horse-race  in  pro- 
gress and  heard  the  shouting  of  a  great  multitude 
cheering  on  the  white  horse  or  the  brown,  and  saw  the 
giant  horses  running  swifter  than  the  wind.1  So  they 
rowed  away  with  all  their  might,  thinking  they  had 
come  upon  an  assembly  of  demons. 

The  Island  of  the  Stone  Door 

A  full  week  passed,  and  then  they  found  a  great,  high 
island  with  a  house  standing  on  the  shore.  A  door 
with  a  valve  of  stone  opened  into  the  sea,  and  through 
it  the  sea-waves  kept  hurling  salmon  into  the  house. 
Maeldun  and  his  party  entered,  and  found  the  house 

1  Horse-racing  was  a  particular  delight  to  the  ancient  Irish,  and 
is  mentioned  in  a  ninth-century  poem  in  praise  of  May  as  one  of  the 
attractions  of  that  month.  The  name  of  the  month  of  May  given 
in  an  ancient  Gaulish  calendar  means  "  the  month  of  horse-racing." 

3H 


THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  BITING  HORSES 

empty  of  folk,  but  a  great  bed  lay  ready  for  the 
chief  to  whom  it  belonged,  and  a  bed  for  each  three 
of  his  company,  and  meat  and  drink  beside  each  bed. 
Maeldun  and  his  party  ate  and  drank  their  fill,  and 
then  sailed  off  again. 

The  Island  of  the  Apples 

By  the  time  they  had  come  here  they  had  been  a 
long  time  voyaging,  and  food  had  failed  them,  and 
they  were  hungry.  This  island  had  precipitous  sides 
from  which  a  wood  hung  down,  and  as  they  passed 
along  the  cliffs  Maeldun  broke  off  a  twig  and  held  it 
in  his  hand.  Three  days  and  nights  they  coasted  the 
cliff  and  found  no  entrance  to  the  island,  but  by  that 
time  a  cluster  of  three  apples  had  grown  on  the  end  of 
Maeldan's  rod,  and  each  apple  sufficed  the  crew  for 
forty  days. 

The  Island  of  the  Wondrous  Beast 

This  island  had  a  fence  of  stone  round  it,  and  within 
the  fence  a  huge  beast  that  raced  round  and  round  the 
island.  And  anon  it  went  to  the  top  of  the  island,  and 
then  performed  a  marvellous  feat,  viz.,  it  turned  its 
body  round  and  round  inside  its  skin,  the  skin  remain- 
ing unmoved,  while  again  it  would  revolve  its  skin 
round  and  round  the  body.  When  it  saw  the  party  it 
rushed  at  them,  but  they  escaped,  pelted  with  stones  as 
they  rowed  away.  One  of  the  stones  pierced  through 
MaeldQn's  shield  and  lodged  in  the  keel  of  the  boat. 

The  Island  of  the  Biting  Horses 

Here  were  many  great  beasts  resembling  horses,  that 
tore  continually  pieces  of  flesh  from  each  other's  sides, 
so  that  all  the  island  ran  with  blood.  They  rowed 
hastily  away,  and  were   now  disheartened  and   full  of 

315 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

complaints,  for  they  knew  not  where  they  were,  nor 
how  to  find  guidance  or  aid  in  their  quest. 

The  Island  of  the  Fiery  Swine 

With  great  weariness,  hunger,  and  thirst  they  arrived 
at  the  tenth  island,  which  was  full  of  trees  loaded  with 
golden  apples.  Under  the  trees  went  red  beasts,  like 
fiery  swine,  that  kicked  the  trees  with  their  legs,  when 
the  apples  fell  and  the  beasts  consumed  them.  The 
beasts  came  out  at  morning  only,  when  a  multitude  of 
birds  left  the  island,  and  swam  out  to  sea  till  nones, 
when  they  turned  and  swam  inward  again  till  vespers, 
and  ate  the  apples  all  night. 

Maeldun  and  his  comrades  landed  at  night,  and  felt 
the  soil  hot  under  their  feet  from  the  fiery  swine  in 
their  caverns  underground.  They  collected  all  the 
apples  they  could,  which  were  good  both  against  hunger 
and  thirst,  and  loaded  their  boat  with  them  and  put  to 
sea  once  more,  refreshed. 

The  Island  of  the  Little  Cat 

The  apples  had  failed  them  when  they  came  hungry  and 
thirsting  to  the  eleventh  island.  This  was,  as  it  were, 
a  tall  white  tower  of  chalk  reaching  up  to  the  clouds, 
and  on  the  rampart  about  it  were  great  houses  white  as 
snow.  They  entered  the  largest  of  them,  and  found 
no  man  in  it,  but  a  small  cat  playing  on  four  stone  pillars 
which  were  in  the  midst  of  the  house,  leaping  from  one 
to  the  other.  It  looked  a  little  on  the  Irish  warriors, 
but  did  not  cease  from  its  play.  On  the  walls  of  the 
houses  there  were  three  rows  of  objects  hanging  up, 
one  row  of  brooches  of  gold  and  silver,  and  one  of 
neck-torques  of  gold  and  silver,  each  as  big  as  the 
hoop  of  a  cask,  and  one  of  great  swords  with  gold  and 
silver  hilts.  Quilts  and  shining  garments  lay  in  the 
316 


THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  GIANT  CATTLE 

room,  and  there,  also,  were  a  roasted  ox  and  a  flitch  of 
bacon  and  abundance  of  liquor.  "  Hath  this  been  left 
for  us  ?"  said  Maeldun  to  the  cat.  It  looked  at  him 
a  moment,  and  then  continued  its  play.  So  there  they 
ate  and  drank  and  slept,  and  stored  up  what  remained 
of  the  food.  Next  day,  as  they  made  to  leave  the 
house,  the  youngest  of  Maeldun's  foster-brothers  took 
a  necklace  from  the  wall,  and  was  bearing  it  out  when 
the  cat  suddenly  "leaped  through  him  like  a  fiery 
arrow,"  and  he  fell,  a  heap  of  ashes,  on  the  floor. 
Thereupon  Maeldun,  who  had  forbidden  the  theft  of 
the  jewel,  soothed  the  cat  and  replaced  the  necklace, 
and  they  strewed  the  ashes  of  the  dead  youth  on  the 
sea-shore,  and  put  to  sea  again. 

The  Island  of  the  Black  and  the  White  Sheep 

This  had  a  brazen  palisade  dividing  it  in  two,  and 
a  flock  of  black  sheep  on  one  side  and  of  white 
sheep  on  the  other.  Between  them  was  a  big  man 
who  tended  the  flocks,  and  sometimes  he  put  a 
white  sheep  among  the  black,  when  it  became  black 
at  once,  or  a  black  sheep  among  the  white,  when 
it  immediately  turned  white.1  By  way  of  an  experi- 
ment Maeldun  flung  a  peeled  white  wand  on  the  side 
of  the  black  sheep.  It  at  once  turned  black,  whereat 
they  left  the  place  in  terror,  and  without  landing. 

The  Island  of  the  Giant  Cattle 

A  great  and  wide  island  with  a  herd  of  huge  swine 
on  it.  They  killed  a  small  pig  and  roasted  it  on  the 
spot,  as  it  was  too  great  to  carry  on  board.  The  island 
rose  up  into  a  very  high  mountain,  and  Diuran  and 
German  went  to  view  the  country  from   the  top  of  it. 

1  The  same  phenomenon  is  recorded  as  being  witnessed  by  Peredur 
I  the  Welih  tale  of  that  name  in  the  "  Mabinogion." 

3'7 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

On  their  way  they  met  a  broad  river.  To  try  the 
depth  of  the  water  German  dipped  in  the  haft  of 
his  spear,  which  at  once  was  consumed  as  with  liquid 
fire.  On  the  other  bank  was  a  huge  man  guarding 
what  seemed  a  herd  of  oxen.  He  called  to  them  not 
to  disturb  the  calves,  so  they  went  no  further  and 
speedily  sailed  away. 

The  Island  of  the  Mill 

Here  they  found  a  great  and  grim-looking  mill,  and 
a  giant  miller  grinding  corn  in  it.  "  Half  the  corn  of 
your  country,"  he  said,  "  is  ground  here.  Here  comes 
to  be  ground  all  that  men  begrudge  to  each  other." 
Heavy  and  many  were  the  loads  they  saw  going  to  it, 
and  all  that  was  ground  in  it  was  carried  away  west- 
wards.    So  they  crossed  themselves  and  sailed  away. 

The  Island  of  the  Black  Mourners 

An  island  full  of  black  people  continually  weeping 
and  lamenting.  One  of  the  two  remaining  foster- 
brothers  landed  on  it,  and  immediately  turned  black 
and  fell  to  weeping  like  the  rest.  Two  others  went  to 
fetch  him  ;  the  same  fate  befell  them.  Four  others 
then  went  with  their  heads  wrapped  in  cloths,  that 
they  should  not  look  on  the  land  or  breathe  the  air 
of  the  place,  and  they  seized  two  of  the  lost  ones  and 
brought  them  away  perforce,  but  not  the  foster-brother. 
The  two  rescued  ones  could  not  explain  their  conduct 
except  by  saying  that  they  had  to  do  as  they  saw  others 
doing  about  them. 

The  Island  of  the  Four  Fences 

Four  fences  of  gold,  silver,  brass,  and  crystal  divided 
this  island  into  four  parts,  kings  in  one,  queens  in 
another,  warriors  in  a  third,  maidens  in  the  fourth. 
318 


"  Half  the  corn  of  your  country  is  ground  here 


3" 


THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  GLASS  BRIDGE 

On  landing,  a  maiden  gave  them  food  like  cheese,  that 
tasted  to  each  man  as  he  wished  it  to  be,  and  an 
intoxicating  liquor  that  put  them  asleep  for  three 
days.  When  they  awoke  they  were  at  sea  in  their 
boat,  and  of  the  island  and  its  inhabitants  nothing  was 
to  be  seen. 

The  Island  of  the  Glass  Bridge 

Here  we  come  to  one  of  the  most  elaborately  wrought 
and  picturesque  of  all  the  incidents  of  the  voyage.  The 
island  they  now  reached  had  on  it  a  fortress  with  a 
brazen  door,  and  a  bridge  of  glass  leading  to  it.  When 
they  sought  to  cross  the  bridge  it  threw  them  back- 
ward.1 A  woman  came  out  of  the  fortress  with  a  pail 
in  her  hand,  and  lifting  from  the  bridge  a  slab  of  glass 
she  let  down  her  pail  into  the  water  beneath,  and 
returned  to  the  fortress.  They  struck  on  the  brazen 
portcullis  before  them  to  gain  admittance,  but  the 
melody  given  forth  by  the  smitten  metal  plunged  them 
in  slumber  till  the  morrow  morn.  Thrice  over  this 
happened,  the  woman  each  time  making  an  ironical 
speech  about  Maeldun.  On  the  fourth  day,  however, 
she  came  out  to  them  over  the  bridge,  wearing  a  white 
mantle  with  a  circlet  of  gold  on  her  hair,  two  silver 
sandals  on  her  rosy  feet,  and  a  filmy  silken  smock  next 
her  skin. 

"  My  welcome  to  thee,  O  Maeldun,"  she  said,  and 
she  welcomed  each  man  of  the  crew  by  his  own  name. 
Then  she  took  them  into  the  great  house  and  allotted 
a  couch  to  the  chief,  and  one  for  each  three  of  his  men. 
She  gave  them  abundance  of  food  and  drink,  all  out 
of  her  one  pail,  each  man  finding  in  it  what  he  most 
desired.  When  she  had  departed  they  asked  Maeldun 
if  they  should  woo  the  maiden  for  him.    "  How  would 

1  Like  the  bridge  to  Skatha's  don,  p.  188. 

319 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

it  hurt  you  to  speak  with  her  ?"  says  Maeldun.  They 
do  so,  and  she  replies  :  "  I  know  not,  nor  have  ever 
known,  what  sin  is."  Twice  over  this  is  repeated. 
"To-morrow,"  she  says  at  last,  "you  shall  have  your 
answer."  When  the  morning  breaks,  however,  they 
find  themselves  once  more  at  sea,  with  no  sign  of  the 
island  or  fortress  or  lady. 

The  Island  of  the  Shouting  Birds 

They  hear  from  afar  a  great  cry  and  chanting,  as  it 
were  a  singing  of  psalms,  and  rowing  for  a  day  and 
night  they  come  at  last  to  an  island  full  of  birds,  black, 
brown,  and  speckled,  all  shouting  and  speaking.  They 
sail  away  without  landing. 

The  Island  of  the  Anchorite 

Here  they  found  a  wooded  island  full  of  birds,  and 
on  it  a  solitary  man,  whose  only  clothing  was  his  hair. 
They  asked  him  of  his  country  and  kin.  He  tells  them 
that  he  was  a  man  of  Ireland  who  had  put  to  sea1  with 
a  sod  of  his  native  country  under  his  feet.  God  had 
turned  the  sod  into  an  island,  adding  a  foot's  breadth 
to  it  and  one  tree  for  every  year.  The  birds  are  his 
kith  and  kin,  and  they  all  wait  there  till  Doomsday, 
miraculously  nourished  by  angels.  He  entertained 
them  for  three  nights,  and  then  they  sailed  away. 

The  Island  of  the  Miraculous  Fountain 

This  island  had  a  golden  rampart,  and  a  soft  white 
soil  like  down.  In  it  they  found  another  anchorite 
clothed  only  in  his  hair.     There  was  a  fountain  in  it 

1  Probably  we  are  to  understand  that  he  was  an  anchorite  seeking 
for  an  islet  on  which  to  dwell  in  solitude  and  contemplation.     The 
western  islands  of  Ireland  abound  in  the  ruins  of  huts  and  oratories 
built  by  single  monks  or  little  communities. 
320 


"On  the  fourth  day  she  came  out  to  them" 


320 


THE  UNDERSEA  ISLAND 

which  yields  whey  or  water  on  Fridays  and  Wednes- 
days, milk  on  Sundays  and  feasts  of  martyrs,  and  ale 
and  wine  on  the  feasts  of  Apostles,  of  Mary,  of  John 
the  Baptist,  and  on  the  high  tides  of  the  year. 

The  Island  of  the  Smithy- 
As  they  approached  this  they  heard  from  afar  as  it 
were  the  clanging  of  a  tremendous  smithy,  and  heard 
men  talking  of  themselves.  "  Little  boys  they  seem," 
said  one,  "  in  a  little  trough  yonder."  They  rowed 
hastily  away,  but  did  not  turn  their  boat,  so  as  not  to 
seem  to  be  flying  ;  but  after  a  while  a  giant  smith  came 
out  of  the  forge  holding  in  his  tongs  a  huge  mass  of 
glowing  iron,  which  he  cast  after  them,  and  all  the  sea 
boiled  round  it,  as  it  fell  astern  of  their  boat. 

The  Sea  of  Clear  Glass 

After  that  they  voyaged  until  they  entered  a  sea 
that  resembled  green  glass.  Such  was  its  purity  that 
the  gravel  and  the  sand  of  the  sea  were  clearly  visible 
through  it  ;  and  they  saw  no  monsters  or  beasts 
therein  among  the  crags,  but  only  the  pure  gravel  and 
the  green  sand.  For  a  long  space  of  the  day  they  were 
voyaging  in  that  sea,  and  great  was  its  splendour  and 
its  beauty.1 

The  Undersea  Island 

They  next  found  themselves  in  a  sea,  thin  like  mist, 
that  seemed  as  if  it  would  not  support  their  boat.  In 
the  depths  they  saw  roofed  fortresses,  and  a  fair  land 
around  them.  A  monstrous  beast  lodged  in  a  tree  there, 
with  droves  of  cattle  about  it,  and  beneath  it  an  armed 
warrior.     In  spite  of  the  warrior,  the  beast  ever  and 

1  Tennyson  has  been  particularly  happy  in  his  description  of 
these  undersea  islands. 

X  321 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

anon  stretched  down  a  long  neck  and  seized  one  of 
the  cattle  and  devoured  it.  Much  dreading  lest  they 
should  sink  through  that  mist-like  sea,  they  sailed  over 
it  and  away. 

The  Island  of  the  Prophecy 

When  they  arrived  here  they  found  the  water  rising 
in  high  cliffs  round  the  island,  and,  looking  down,  saw 
on  it  a  crowd  of  people,  who  screamed  at  them,  "  It  is 
they,  it  is  they,"  till  they  were  out  of  breath.  Then 
came  a  woman  and  pelted  them  from  below  with  large 
nuts,  which  they  gathered  and  took  with  them.  As 
they  went  they  heard  the  folk  crying  to  each  other: 
"  Where  are  they  now  ?  "  "  They  are  gone  away." 
"They  are  not."  "  It  is  likely,"  says  the  tale,  "that 
there  was  some  one  concerning  whom  the  islanders 
had  a  prophecy  that  he  would  ruin  their  country  and 
expel  them  from  their  land." 

The  Island  of  the  Spouting  Water 

Here  a  great  stream  spouted  out  of  one  side  of  the 
island  and  arched  over  it  like  a  rainbow,  falling  on  the 
strand  at  the  further  side.  And  when  they  thrust 
their  spears  into  the  stream  above  them  they  brought 
out  salmon  from  it  as  much  as  they  would,  and  the 
island  was  filled  with  the  stench  of  those  they  could 
not  carry  away. 

The  Island  of  the  Silvern  Column 

The  next  wonder  to  which  they  came  forms  one  of 
the  most  striking  and  imaginative  episodes  of  the 
voyage.  It  was  a  great  silvern  column,  four-square, 
rising  from  the  sea.  Each  of  its  four  sides  was  as 
wide  as  two  oar-strokes  of  the  boat.  Not  a  sod  of 
earth  was  at  its  foot,  but  it  rose  from  the  boundless 
322 


THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  WOMEN 

ocean  and  its  summit  was  lost  in  the  sky.  From  that 
summit  a  huge  silver  net  was  flung  far  away  into  the 
sea,  and  through  a  mesh  of  that  net  they  sailed.  As 
they  did  so  Diuran  hacked  away  a  piece  of  the  net. 
"  Destroy  it  not,"  said  Maeldun,  "  for  what  we  see  is 
the  work  of  mighty  men."  Diuran  said :  "  For  the 
praise  of  God's  name  I  do  this,  that  our  tale  may  be 
believed,  and  if  I  reach  Ireland  again  this  piece  of  silver 
shall  be  offered  by  me  on  the  high  altar  of  Armagh." 
Two  ounces  and  a  half  it  weighed  when  it  was  measured 
afterwards  in  Armagh. 

"And  then  they  heard  a  voice  from  the  summit  of 
yonder  pillar,  mighty,  clear,  and  distinct.  But  they 
knew  not  the  tongue  it  spake,  or  the  words  it  uttered." 

The  Island  of  the  Pedestal 

The  next  island  stood  on  a  foot,  or  pedestal,  which 
rose  from  the  sea,  and  they  could  find  no  way  of  access 
to  it.  In  the  base  of  the  pedestal  was  a  door,  closed 
and  locked,  which  they  could  not  open,  so  they  sailed 
away,  having  seen  and  spoken  with  no  one. 

The  Island  of  the  Women 

Here  they  found  the  rampart  of  a  mighty  dun, 
enclosing  a  mansion.  They  landed  to  look  on  it,  and 
sat  on  a  hillock  near  by.  Within  the  dun  they  saw 
seventeen  maidens  busy  at  preparing  a  great  bath.  In 
a  little  while  a  rider,  richly  clad,  came  up  swiftly  on  a 
racehorse,  and  lighted  down  and  went  inside,  one  of  the 
girls  taking  the  horse.  The  rider  then  went  into  the 
bath,  when  they  saw  that  it  was  a  woman.  Shortly 
after  that  one  of  the  maidens  came  out  and  invited 
them  to  enter,  saying :  "  The  Queen  invites  you." 
They  went  into  the  fort  and  bathed,  and  then  sat  down 
to  meat,  each  man  with  a  maiden  over  against  him,  and 

323 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Maeldan  opposite  to  the  queen.  And  Maeldun  was 
wedded  to  the  queen,  and  each  of  the  maidens  to  one 
of  his  men,  and  at  nightfall  canopied  chambers  were 
allotted  to  each  of  them.  On  the  morrow  morn  they 
made  ready  to  depart,  but  the  queen  would  not  have 
them  go,  and  said :  "  Stay  here,  and  old  age  will  never 
fall  on  you,  but  ye  shall  remain  as  ye  are  now  for 
ever  and  ever,  and  what  ye  had  last  night  ye  shall  have 
always.  And  be  no  longer  a-wandering  from  island  to 
island  on  the  ocean." 

She  then  told  Maeldun  that  she  was  the  mother 
of  the  seventeen  girls  they  had  seen,  and  her  husband 
had  been  king  of  the  island.  He  was  now  dead,  and 
she  reigned  in  his  place.  Each  day  she  went  into  the 
great  plain  in  the  interior  of  the  island  to  judge  the 
folk,  and  returned  to  the  dun  at  night. 

So  they  remained  there  for  three  months  of  winter ; 
but  at  the  end  of  that  time  it  seemed  they  had  been 
there  three  years,  and  the  men  wearied  of  it,  and  longed 
to  set  forth  for  their  own  country. 

"What  shall  we  find  there,"  said  Maeldun,  "that  is 
better  than  this  ?" 

But  still  the  people  murmured  and  complained,  and 
at  last  they  said  :  "  Great  is  the  love  which  Maeldun  has 
for  his  woman.  Let  him  stay  with  her  alone  if  he  will, 
but  we  will  go  to  our  own  country."  But  Maeldon 
would  not  be  left  after  them,  and  at  last  one  day,  when 
the  queen  was  away  judging  the  folk,  they  went  on 
board  their  bark  and  put  out  to  sea.  Before  they  had 
gone  far,  however,  the  queen  came  riding  up  with  a 
clew  of  twine  in  her  hand,  and  she  flung  it  after  them. 
Maeldun  caught  it  in  his  hand,  and  it  clung  to  his  hand 
so  that  he  could  not  free  himself,  and  the  queen,  holding 
the  other  end,  drew  them  back  to  land.  And  they 
stayed  on  the  island  another  three  months. 
324 


THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  EAGLE 

Twice  again  the  same  thing  happened,  and  at  last 
the  people  averred  that  Maeldun  held  the  clew  on 
purpose,  so  great  was  his  love  for  the  woman.  So  the 
next  time  another  man  caught  the  clew,  but  it  clung  to 
his  hand  as  before  ;  so  Diuran  smote  off  his  hand,  and 
it  fell  with  the  clew  into  the  sea.  "When  she  saw  that 
she  at  once  began  to  wail  and  shriek,  so  that  all  the  land 
was  one  cry,  wailing  and  shrieking."  And  thus  they 
escaped  from  the  Island  of  the  Women. 

The  Island  of  the  Red  Berries 

On  this  island  were  trees  with  great  red  berries 
which  yielded  an  intoxicating  and  slumbrous  juice. 
They  mingled  it  with  water  to  moderate  its  power, 
and  filled  their  casks  with  it,  and  sailed  away. 

The  Island  of  the  Eagle 

A  large  island,  with  woods  of  oak  and  yew  on  one 
side  of  it,  and  on  the  other  a  plain,  whereon  were 
herds  of  sheep,  and  a  little  lake  in  it  ;  and  there  also 
they  found  a  small  church  and  a  fort,  and  an  ancient 
grey  cleric,  clad  only  in  his  hair.  Maeldun  asked  him 
who  he  was. 

"I  am  the  fifteenth  man  of  the  monks  of  St.  Brennan 
of  Birr,"  he  said.  "We  went  on  our  pilgrimage  into 
the  ocean,  and  they  have  all  died  save  me  alone."  He 
showed  them  the  tablet  (?  calendar)  of  the  Holy  Brennan, 
and  they  prostrated  themselves  before  it,  and  Maeldun 
kissed  it.  They  stayed  there  for  a  season,  feeding  on 
the  sheep  of  the  island. 

One  day  they  saw  what  seemed  to  be  a  cloud  coming 
up  from  the  south-west.  As  it  drew  near,  however, 
they  saw  the  waving  of  pinions,  and  perceived  that  it 
was  an  enormous  bird.  It  came  into  the  island,  and, 
alighting  very  wearily  on  a  hill  near  the  lake,  it  began 

325 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

eating  the  red  berries,  like  grapes,  which  grew  on  a 
huge  tree-branch  as  big  as  a  full-grown  oak,  that  it  had 
brought  with  it,  and  the  juice  and  fragments  of  the 
berries  fell  into  the  lake,  reddening  all  the  water. 
Fearful  that  it  would  seize  them  in  its  talons  and  bear 
them  out  to  sea,  they  lay  hid  in  the  woods  and  watched 
it.  After  a  while,  however,  Maeldun  went  out  to  the 
foot  of  the  hill,  but  the  bird  did  him  no  harm,  and  then 
the  rest  followed  cautiously  behind  their  shields,  and 
one  of  them  gathered  the  berries  off  the  branch  which 
the  bird  held  in  its  talons,  but  it  did  them  no  evil,  and 
regarded  them  not  at  all.  And  they  saw  that  it  was 
very  old,  and  its  plumage  dull  and  decayed. 

At  the  hour  of  noon  two  eagles  came  up  from  the 
south-west  and  alit  in  front  of  the  great  bird,  and  after 
resting  awhile  they  set  to  work  picking  off  the  insects 
that  infested  its  jaws  and  eyes  and  ears.  This  they 
continued  till  vespers,  when  all  three  ate  of  the  berries 
again.  At  last,  on  the  following  day,  when  the  great 
bird  had  been  completely  cleansed,  it  plunged  into  the 
lake,  and  again  the  two  eagles  picked  and  cleansed  it. 
Till  the  third  day  the  great  bird  remained  preening  and 
shaking  its  pinions,  and  its  feathers  became  glossy  and 
abundant,  and  then,  soaring  upwards,  it  flew  thrice 
round  the  island,  and  away  to  the  quarter  whence  it  had 
come,  and  its  flight  was  now  swift  and  strong ;  whence 
it  was  manifest  to  them  that  this  had  been  its  renewal 
from  old  age  to  youth,  according  as  the  prophet  said, 
Thy  youth  is  renewed  like  the  eagle  s} 

Then  Diuran  said  :  "  Let  us  bathe  in  that  lake  and 

renew  ourselves  where  the  bird  hath  been  renewed." 

"Nay,"  said  another,  "for  the  bird  hath  left  his  venom 

in  it."     But  Diuran  plunged  in  and  drank  of  the  water. 

From  that  time  so  long  as  he  lived  his  eyes  were  strong 

1  Ps.  ciii.  5. 
326 


THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  MONK  OF  TORY 
and  keen,  and  not  a  tooth  fell  from  his  jaw  nor  a  hair 
from  his  head,  and  he  never  knew  illness  or  infirmity. 

Thereafter  they  bade  farewell  to  the  anchorite,  and 
fared  forth  on  the  ocean  once  more. 

The  Island  of  the  Laughing  Folk 

Here  they  found  a  great  company  of  men  laughing 
and  playing  incessantly.  They  drew  lots  as  to  who  should 
enter  and  explore  it,  and  it  fell  to  Maeldon's  foster- 
brother.  But  when  he  set  foot  on  it  he  at  once  began 
to  laugh  and  play  with  the  others,  and  could  not  leave 
off,  nor  would  he  come  back  to  his  comrades.  So  they 
left  him  and  sailed  away.1 

The  Island  of  the  Flaming  Rampart 

They  now  came  in  sight  of  an  island  which  was  not 
large,  and  it  had  about  it  a  rampart  of  flame  that 
circled  round  and  round  it  continually.  In  one  part  of 
the  rampart  there  was  an  opening,  and  when  this  open- 
ing came  opposite  to  them  they  saw  through  it  the 
whole  island,  and  saw  those  who  dwelt  therein,  even 
men  and  women,  beautiful,  many,  and  wearing  adorned 
garments,  with  vessels  of  gold  in  their  hands.  And 
the  festal  music  which  they  made  came  to  the  ears  of 
the  wanderers.  For  a  long  time  they  lingered  there, 
watching  this  marvel,  "  and  they  deemed  it  delightful 
to  behold." 

The  Island  of  the  Monk  of  Tory 

Far  off  among  the  waves  they  saw  what  they  took  to 
be  a  white  bird  on  the  water.  Drawing  near  to  it  they 
found  it  to  be  an  aged  man  clad  only  in  the  white  hair 

1  This  disposes  of  the  last  of  the  foster-brothers,  who  should  not 
have  joined  the  party. 

327 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

of  his  body,  and  he  was  throwing  himself  in  prostrations 
on  a  broad  rock. 

"From  Torach  *  I  have  come  hither,"  he  said,  "and 
there  I  was  reared.  I  was  cook  in  the  monastery  there, 
and  the  food  of  the  Church  I  used  to  sell  for  myself, 
so  that  I  had  at  last  much  treasure  of  raiment  and 
brazen  vessels  and  gold-bound  books  and  all  that  man 
desires.     Great  was  my  pride  and  arrogance. 

"  One  day  as  I  dug  a  grave  in  which  to  bury  a  churl 
who  had  been  brought  on  to  the  island,  a  voice  came  from 
below  where  a  holy  man  lay  buried,  and  he  said :  c  Put 
not  the  corpse  of  a  sinner  on  me,  a  holy,  pious  person! 

After  a  dispute  the  monk  buried  the  corpse  elsewhere, 
and  was  promised  an  eternal  reward  for  doing  so.  Not 
long  thereafter  he  put  to  sea  in  a  boat  with  all  his 
accumulated  treasures,  meaning  apparently  to  escape 
from  the  island  with  his  plunder.  A  great  wind  blew 
him  far  out  to  sea,  and  when  he  was  out  of  sight  of 
land  the  boat  stood  still  in  one  place.  He  saw  near 
him  a  man  (angel)  sitting  on  the  wave.  "  Whither 
goest  thou?"  said  the  man.  "On  a  pleasant  way, 
whither  I  am  now  looking,"  said  the  monk.  "  It  would 
not  be  pleasant  to  thee  if  thou  knewest  what  is  around 
thee,"  said  the  man.  "  So  far  as  eye  can  see  there  is 
one  crowd  of  demons  all  gathered  around  thee,  because 
of  thy  covetousness  and  pride,  and  theft,  and  other 
evil  deeds.  Thy  boat  hath  stopped,  nor  will  it  move 
until  thou  do  my  will,  and  the  fires  of  hell  shall  get 
hold  of  thee." 

He  came  near  to  the  boat,  and  laid  his  hand  on  the 
arm  of  the  fugitive,  who  promised  to  do  his  will. 

"  Fling  into  the  sea,"  he  said,  "all  the  wealth  that  is 
in  thy  boat." 

1  Tory  Island,  off  the  Donegal  coast.    There  was  there  a  monastery 
and  a  church  dedicated  to  St.  Columba. 
328 


THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  FALCON 

"  It  is  a  pity,"  said  the  monk,  "  that  it  should  go  to 
loss." 

"  It  shall  in  nowise  go  to  loss.  There  will  be  one 
man  whom  thou  wilt  profit." 

The  monk  thereupon  flung  everything  into  the  sea 
save  one  little  wooden  cup,  and  he  cast  away  oars  and 
rudder.  The  man  gave  him  a  provision  of  whey  and 
seven  cakes,  and  bade  him  abide  wherever  his  boat  should 
stop.  The  wind  and  waves  carried  him  hither  and 
thither  till  at  last  the  boat  came  to  rest  upon  the  rock 
where  the  wanderers  found  him.  There  was  nothing 
there  but  the  bare  rock,  but  remembering  what  he  was 
bidden  he  stepped  out  upon  a  little  ledge  over  which 
the  waves  washed,  and  the  boat  immediately  left  him, 
and  the  rock  was  enlarged  for  him.  There  he  remained 
seven  years,  nourished  by  otters  which  brought  him 
salmon  out  of  the  sea,  and  even  flaming  firewood  on 
which  to  cook  them,  and  his  cup  was  filled  with  good 
liquor  every  day.  "  And  neither  wet  nor  heat  nor 
cold  affects  me  in  this  place." 

At  the  noon  hour  miraculous  nourishment  was 
brought  for  the  whole  crew,  and  thereafter  the  ancient 
man  said  to  them  : 

"Ye  will  all  reach  your  country,  and  the  man  that 
slew  thy  father,  O  Maeldun,  ye  will  find  him  in  a  fortress 
before  you.  And  slay  him  not,  but  forgive  him  ; 
because  God  hath  saved  you  from  manifold  great  perils, 
and  ye  too  are  men  deserving  of  death." 

Then  they  bade  him  farewell  and  went  on  their 
accustomed  way. 

The  Island  of  the  Falcon 

This  is  uninhabited  save  for  herds  of  sheep  and  oxen. 
They  land  on  it  and  eat  their  fill,  and  one  of  them 
sees  there  a  large  falcon.     "This  falcon,"  he  says,  "  is 

329 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

like  the  falcons  of  Ireland."  "Watch  it,"  says  Mael- 
dtin,  "and  see  how  it  will  go  from  us."  It  flew  off  to 
the  south-east,  and  they  rowed  after  it  all  day  till 
vespers. 

The  Home-coming 

At  nightfall  they  sighted  a  land  like  Ireland  ;  and 
soon  came  to  a  small  island,  where  they  ran  their  prow 
ashore.  It  was  the  island  where  dwelt  the  man  who 
had  slain  Ailill. 

They  went  up  to  the  dun  that  was  on  the  island, 
and  heard  men  talking  within  it  as  they  sat  at  meat. 
One  man  said  : 

"  It  would  be  ill  for  us  if  we  saw  Maeldun  now." 

"That  Maeldun  has  been  drowned,"  said  another. 

"  Maybe  it  is  he  who  shall  waken  you  from  sleep 
to-night,"  said  a  third. 

"  If  he  should  come  now,"  said  a  fourth,  "  what 
should  we  do  ? " 

"  Not  hard  to  answer  that,"  said  the  chief  of  them. 
"  Great  welcome  should  he  have  if  he  were  to  come, 
for  he  hath  been  a  long  space  in  great  tribulation." 

Then  Maeldun  smote  with  the  wooden  clapper 
against  the  door.  "  Who  is  there  ?  "  asked  the  door- 
keeper. 

"  Maeldun  is  here,"  said  he. 

They  entered  the  house  in  peace,  and  great  welcome 
was  made  for  them,  and  they  were  arrayed  in  new 
garments.  And  then  they  told  the  story  of  all  the 
marvels  that  God  had  shown  them,  according  to  the 
words  of  the  "  sacred  poet,"  who  said,  Haec  olirn 
meminisse  juvabit} 

1  "One  day  we  shall  delight  in  the  remembrance  of  these  things." 
The  quotation  is  from  Vergil,  "  ALn"  i.  203.     "  Sacred  poet"  is  a 
translation  of  the  votes  sacer  of  Horace. 
330 


The  Offering  of  Diuran  the  Rhymer 


33° 


THE  HOME-COMING 

Then  Maeldun  went  to  his  own  home  and  kindred, 
and  Diuran  the  Rhymer  took  with  him  the  piece  of 
silver  that  he  had  hewn  from  the  net  of  the  pillar,  and 
laid  it  on  the  high  altar  of  Armagh  in  triumph  and 
exultation  at  the  miracles  that  God  had  wrought  for 
them.  And  they  told  again  the  story  of  all  that  had 
befallen  them,  and  all  the  marvels  they  had  seen  by 
sea  and  land,  and  the  perils  they  had  endured. 
The  story  ends  with  the  following  words  : 
"  Now  Aed  the  Fair  [Aed  Finn *],  chief  sage  of 
Ireland, arranged  this  story  as  it  standeth  here  ;  and  he 
did  so  for  a  delight  to  the  mind,  and  for  the  folks  of 
Ireland  after  him." 

1  This  sage   and  poet  has   not  been    identified  from   any   other 
record.     Praise  and  thanks  to  him,  whoever  he  may  have  been. 


331 


CHAPTER  VIII :  MYTHS  AND  TALES 
OF  THE  CYMRY 

Bardic  Philosophy 

THE  absence  in  early  Celtic  literature  of  any 
world-myth,  or  any  philosophic  account  of  the 
origin  and  constitution  of  things,  was  noticed 
at  the  opening  of  our  third  chapter.  In  Gaelic  lite- 
rature there  is,  as  far  as  I  know,  nothing  which  even 
pretends  to  represent  early  Celtic  thought  on  this 
subject.  It  is  otherwise  in  Wales.  Here  there  has 
existed  for  a  considerable  time  a  body  of  teaching 
purporting  to  contain  a  portion,  at  any  rate,  of  that 
ancient  Druid ic  thought  which,  as  Caesar  tells  us,  was 
communicated  only  to  the  initiated,  and  never  written 
down.  This  teaching  is  principally  to  be  found  in  two 
volumes  entitled  "  Barddas,"  a  compilation  made  from 
materials  in  his  possession  by  a  Welsh  bard  and  scholar 
named  Llewellyn  Sion,  of  Glamorgan,  towards  the  end 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  edited,  with  a  translation, 
by  J.  A.  Williams  ap  Ithel  for  the  Welsh  MS.  Society. 
Modern  Celtic  scholars  pour  contempt  on  the  pre- 
tensions of  works  like  this  to  enshrine  any  really 
antique  thought.  Thus  Mr.  Ivor  B.  John  :  "All  idea 
of  a  bardic  esoteric  doctrine  involving  pre-Christian 
mythic  philosophy  must  be  utterly  discarded."  And 
again  :  "  The  nonsense  talked  upon  the  subject  is 
largely  due  to  the  uncritical  invention  of  pseudo- 
antiquaries  of  the  sixteenth  to  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries." x  Still  the  bardic  Order  was 
certainly  at  one  time  in  possession  of  such  a  doctrine. 
That  Order  had  a  fairly  continuous  existence  in  Wales. 
And  though  no  critical  thinker  would  build  with  any 

1   "  The  Mabinogion,"  pp.  45  and  54. 
332 


BARDIC  PHILOSOPHY 

confidence  a  theory  of  pre-Christian  doctrine  on  a 
document  of  the  sixteenth  century,  it  does  not  seem 
wise  to  scout  altogether  the  possibility  that  some 
fragments  of  antique  lore  may  have  lingered  even  so 
late  as  that  in  bardic  tradition. 

At  any  rate,  "  Barddas  "  is  a  work  of  considerable 
philosophic  interest,  and  even  if  it  represents  nothing 
but  a  certain  current  of  Cymric  thought  in  the  sixteenth 
century  it  is  not  unworthy  of  attention  by  the  student 
of  things  Celtic.  Purely  Druidic  it  does  not  even 
profess  to  be,  for  Christian  personages  and  episodes 
from  Christian  history  figure  largely  in  it.  But  we 
come  occasionally  upon  a  strain  of  thought  which, 
whatever  else  it  may  be,  is  certainly  not  Christian,  and 
speaks  of  an  independent  philosophic  system. 

In  this  system  two  primary  existences  are  contem- 
plated, God  and  Cythrawl,  who  stand  respectively  for 
the  principle  of  energy  tending  towards  life,  and  the 
principle  of  destruction  tending  towards  nothingness. 
Cythrawl  is  realised  in  Annwn,1  which  may  be  rendered, 
the  Abyss,  or  Chaos.  In  the  beginning  there  was 
nothing  but  God  and  Annwn.  Organised  life  began 
by  the  Word — God  pronounced  His  ineffable  Name 
and  the  "  Manred "  was  formed.  The  Manred  was 
the  primal  substance  of  the  universe.  It  was  conceived 
as  a  multitude  of  minute  indivisible  particles — atoms, 
in  fact — each  being  a  microcosm,  for  God  is  complete 
in  each  of  them,  while  at  the  same  time  each  is  a  part 
of  God,  the  Whole.  The  totality  of  being  as  it  now 
exists  is  represented  by  three  concentric  circles.  The 
innermost  of  them,  where  life  sprang  from  Annwn,  is 
called  "  Abred,"  and  is  the  stage  of  struggle  and  evolu- 
tion— the  contest  of  life  with  Cythrawl.     The  next  is 

1  Pronounced  "  Annoon."  It  was  the  word  used  in  the  early 
literature  for  Hades  or  Fairyland. 

333 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  circle  of "  Gwynfyd,"  or  Purity,  in  which  life  is 
manifested  as  a  pure,  rejoicing  force,  having  attained 
its  triumph  over  evil.  The  last  and  outermost  circle  is 
called  "  Ceugant,"  or  Infinity.  Here  all  predicates  fail 
us,  and  this  circle,  represented  graphically  not  by  a 
bounding  line,  but  by  divergent  rays,  is  inhabited  by 


The  Circles  of  Being 

God  alone.  The  following  extract  from  "  Barddas," 
in  which  the  alleged  bardic  teaching  is  conveyed  in 
catechism  form,  will  serve  to  show  the  order  of  ideas  in 
which  the  writer's  mind  moved : 

"  Q.  Whence  didst  thou  proceed  ? 

"  A.  I  came  from  the  Great  World,  having  my 
beginning  in  Annwn. 

"  Q.  Where  art  thou  now  ?  and  how  earnest  thou  to 
what  thou  art  ? 

"  A.  I  am  in  the  Little  World,  whither  I  came 
having  traversed  the  circle  of  Abred,  and  now  I  am  a 
Man,  at  its  termination  and  extreme  limits. 

"  Q.  What  wert  thou  before  thou  didst  become  a 
man,  in  the  circle  of  Abred  ? 

"A.  I  was  in  Annwn  the  least  possible  that  was 
capable  of  life  and  the  nearest  possible  to  absolute 
death  ;  and  I  came  in  every  form  and  through  every 
<34 


BARDIC  PHILOSOPHY 

form  capable  of  a  body  and  life  to  the  state  of  man 
along  the  circle  of  Abred,  where  my  condition  was 
severe  and  grievous  during  the  age  of  ages,  ever  since 
I  was  parted  in  Annwn  from  the  dead,  by  the  gift  of 
God,  and  His  great  generosity,  and  His  unlimited  and 
endless  love. 

"  Q.  Through  how  many  different  forms  didst  thou 
come,  and  what  happened  unto  thee  ?" 

"A.  Through  every  form  capable  of  life,  in  water,  in 
earth,  in  air.  And  there  happened  unto  me  every 
severity,  every  hardship,,  every  evil,  and  every 
suffering,  and  but  little  was  the  goodness  or  Gwynfyd 
before  1  became  a  man.  .  .  .  Gwynfyd  cannot  be 
obtained  without  seeing  and  knowing  everything,  but 
it  is  not  possible  to  see  or  to  know  everything  without 
suffering  everything.  .  .  .  And  there  can  be  no  full 
and  perfect  love  that  does  not  produce  those  things 
which  are  necessary  to  lead  to  the  knowledge  that 
causes  Gwynfyd." 

Every  being,  we  are  told,  shall  attain  to  the  circle  of 
Gwynfyd  at  last.1 

There  is  much  here  that  reminds  us  of  Gnostic  or 
Oriental  thought.  It  is  certainly  very  unlike  Christian 
orthodoxy  of  the  sixteenth  century.  As  a  product  of 
the  Cymric  mind  of  that  period  the  reader  may  take  it 
for  what  it  is  worth,  without  troubling  himself  either 
with  antiquarian  theories  or  with  their  refutations. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  really  ancient  work,  which 
is  not  philosophic,  but  creative  and  imaginative,  pro- 
duced by  British  bards  and  fabulists  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  But  before  we  go  on  to  set  forth  what  we 
shall  find  in  this  literature  we  must  delay  a  moment  to 
discuss  one  thing  which  we  shall  not. 

1  "  Barddas,"  vol.  i.  pp.  224  sqq. 

335 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  Arthurian  Saga 

For  the  majority  of  modern  readers  who  have  not 
made  any  special  study  of  the  subject,  the  mention  of 
early  British  legend  will  inevitably  call  up  the  glories 
of  the  Arthurian  Saga — they  will  think  of  the  fabled 
palace  at  Caerleon-on-Usk,  the  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table  riding  forth  on  chivalrous  adventure,  the  Quest 
of  the  Grail,  the  guilty  love  of  Lancelot,  flower  of 
knighthood,  for  the  queen,  the  last  great  battle  by  the 
northern  sea,  the  voyage  of  Arthur,  sorely  wounded, 
but  immortal,  to  the  mystic  valley  of  Avalon.  But  as 
a  matter  of  fact  they  will  find  in  the  native  literature 
of  mediaeval  Wales  little  or  nothing  of  all  this — no 
Round  Table,  no  Lancelot,  no  Grail-Quest,  no  Isle  of 
Avalon,  until  the  Welsh  learned  about  them  from 
abroad  ;  and  though  there  was  indeed  an  Arthur  in  this 
literature,  he  is  a  wholly  different  being  from  the 
Arthur  of  what  we  now  call  the  Arthurian  Saga. 

Nennius 

The  earliest  extant  mention  of  Arthur  is  to  be  found  in 
the  work  of  the  British  historian  Nennius,  who  wrote  his 
"Historia  Britonum"  about  the  year  800.  He  derives 
his  authority  from  various  sources — ancient  monuments 
and  writings  of  Britain  and  of  Ireland  (in  connexion 
with  the  latter  country  he  records  the  legend  of  Partho- 
lan),  Roman  annals,  and  chronicles  of  saints,  especially 
St.  Germanus.  He  presents  a  fantastically  Romanised 
and  Christianised  view  of  British  history,  deriving  the 
Britons  from  a  Trojan  and  Roman  ancestry.  His 
account  of  Arthur,  however,  is  both  sober  and  brief. 
Arthur,  who,  according  to  Nennius,  lived  in  the  sixth 
century,  was  not  a  king  ;  his  ancestry  was  less  noble 
than  that  of  many  other  British  chiefs,  who,  neverthe- 
336 


GEOFFREY  OF  MONMOUTH 
less,  for  his  great  talents  as  a  military  Imperator,  or  dux 
bellorum,  chose  him  for  their  leader  against  the  Saxons, 
whom  he  defeated  in  twelve  battles,  the  last  being  at 
Mount  Badon.  Arthur's  office  was  doubtless  a  relic  of 
Roman  military  organisation,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  his  historical  existence,  however  impenetrable 
may  be  the  veil  which  now  obscures  his  valiant  and 
often  triumphant  battlings  for  order  and  civilisation  in 
that  disastrous  age. 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth 

Next  we  have  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  Bishop  of  St. 
Asaph,  who  wrote  his  "  Historia  Regum  Britaniae  "  in 
South  Wales  in  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century. 
This  work  is  an  audacious  attempt  to  make  sober 
history  out  of  a  mass  of  mythical  or  legendary  matter 
mainly  derived,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  author,  from  an 
ancient  book  brought  by  his  uncle  Walter,  Archdeacon 
of  Oxford,  from  Brittany.  The  mention  of  Brittany 
in  this  connexion  is,  as  we  shall  see,  very  significant. 
Geoffrey  wrote  expressly  to  commemorate  the  exploits 
of  Arthur,  who  now  appears  as  a  king,  son  of  Uther 
Pendragon  and  of  Igerna,  wife  of  Gorlois,  Duke  of 
Cornwall,  to  whom  Uther  gained  access  in  the  shape  of 
her  husband  through  the  magic  arts  of  Merlin.  He 
places  the  beginning  of  Arthur's  reign  in  the  year  505, 
recounts  his  wars  against  the  Saxons,  and  says  he  ulti- 
mately conquered  not  only  all  Britain,  but  Ireland, 
Norway,  Gaul,  and  Dacia,  and  successfully  resisted  a 
demand  for  tribute  and  homage  from  the  Romans. 
He  held  his  court  at  Caerleon-on-Usk.  While  he  was 
away  on  the  Continent  carrying  on  his  struggle  with 
Rome  his  nephew  Modred  usurped  his  crown  and 
wedded  his  wife  Guanhumara.  Arthur,  on  this,  returned, 
and    after    defeating    the    traitor    at  Winchester    slew 

Y  337 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

him  in  a  last  battle  in  Cornwall,  where  Arthur  himselt 
was  sorely  wounded  (a.d.  542).  The  queen  retired 
to  a  convent  at  Caerleon.  Before  his  death  Arthur 
conferred  his  kingdom  on  his  kinsman  Constantine,  and 
was  then  carried  off  mysteriously  to  "  the  isle  of  Avalon  " 
to  be  cured,  and  "  the  rest  is  silence."  Arthur's  magic 
sword  "  Caliburn  "  (Welsh  Caladvwlch  ;  see  p.  224,  note) 
is  mentioned  by  Geoffrey  and  described  as  having  been 
made  in  Avalon,  a  word  which  seems  to  imply  some 
kind  of  fairyland,  a  Land  of  the  Dead,  and  may  be 
related  to  the  Norse  Valhall.  It  was  not  until  later  times 
that  Avalon  came  to  be  identified  with  an  actual  site  in 
Britain  (Glastonbury).  In  Geoffrey's  narrative  there  is 
nothing  about  the  Holy  Grail,  or  Lancelot,  or  the 
Round  Table,  and  except  for  the  allusion  to  Avalon  the 
mystical  element  of  the  Arthurian  saga  is  absent.  Like 
Nennius,  Geoffrey  finds  a  fantastic  classical  origin  for 
the  Britons.  His  so-called  history  is  perfectly  worth- 
less as  a  record  of  fact,  but  it  has  proved  a  veritable 
mine  for  poets  and  chroniclers,  and  has  the  distinction 
of  having  furnished  the  subject  for  the  earliest  English 
tragic  drama,  "Gorboduc,"  as  well  as  for  Shakespeare's 
"King  Lear"  ;  and  its  author  may  be  described  as  the 
father — at  least  on  its  quasi-historical  side — of  the 
Arthurian  saga,  which  he  made  up  partly  out  of  records 
of  the  historical  dux  bellorum  of  Nennius  and  partly  out 
of  poetical  amplifications  of  these  records  made  in 
Brittany  by  the  descendants  of  exiles  from  Wales,  many 
of  whom  fled  there  at  the  very  time  when  Arthur  was 
waging  his  wars  against  the  heathen  Saxons.  Geoffrey's 
book  had  a  wonderful  success.  It  was  speedily  trans- 
lated into  French  by  Wace,  who  wrote  "Li  Romans 
de  Brut"  about  n 55,  with  added  details  from  Breton 
sources,  and  translated  from  Wace's  French  into  Anglo- 
Saxon  by  Layamon,  who  thus  anticipated  Malory's 
338 


THE  SAGA  IN  BRITTANY :  MARIE  DE  FRANCE 

adaptations  of  late  French  prose  romances.  No  one  at 
that  time  doubted  its  strict  historical  truth,  and  it  had 
the  important  effect  of  giving  to  early  British  history  a 
dignity  which  ennobled  the  whole  country  in  the  esti- 
mation of  Continental  princes  and  of  its  own.  To  sit 
upon  the  throne  of  Arthur  was  regarded  as  in  itself  a 
glory  by  Norman  and  Plantagenet  monarchs  who  had 
not  a  trace  of  Arthur's  or  of  any  British  blood. 

The  Saga  in  Brittany  :  Marie  de  France 

The  Breton  sources  must  next  be  considered.  Un- 
fortunately, not  a  line  of  ancient  Breton  literature  has 
come  down  to  us,  and  for  our  knowledge  of  it  we  must 
rely  on  the  appearances  it  makes  in  the  work  of  French 
writers.  One  of  the  earliest  of  these  is  the  Anglo- 
Norman  poetess  who  called  herself  Marie  de  France, 
and  who  wrote  about  1 1 50  and  afterwards.  She  wrote, 
among  other  things,  a  number  of  "  Lais,"  or  tales, 
which  she  explicitly  and  repeatedly  tells  us  were  trans- 
lated or  adapted  from  Breton  sources.  Sometimes  she 
claims  to  have  rendered  a  writer's  original  exactly  : 

"  Les  contes  que  jo  sai  verais 
Dunt  li  Bretun  unt  fait  les  lais 
Vos  conterai  assez  briefment ; 
Et  cief  [sauf ]  di  cest  coumencement 
Selunc  la  lettre  e  1'escriture." 

Little  is  actually  said  about  Arthur  in  these  tales,  but 
the  events  of  them  are  placed  in  his  time — en  eel  terns 
tint  Artus  la  terre — and  the  allusions,  which  include  a 
mention  of  the  Round  Table,  evidently  imply  a  general 
knowledge  of  the  subject  among  those  to  whom  these 
Breton  "Lais"  were  addressed.  Lancelot  is  not  men- 
tioned, but  there  is  a  "  Lai "  about  one  Lanval,  who  is 
beloved  by  Arthur's  queen,  but  rejects  her  because  he 
has  a  fairy  mistress  in  the  "isle  d'Avalon."     Gawain  is 

339 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

mentioned,  and  an  episode  is  told  in  the  "  Lai  de 
Chevrefoil "  about  Tristan  and  Iseult,  whose  maid, 
"  Brangien,"  is  referred  to  in  a  way  which  assumes  that 
the  audience  knew  the  part  she  had  played  on  Iseult's 
bridal  night.  In  short,  we  have  evidence  here  of  the 
existence  in  Brittany  of  a  well-diffused  and  well- 
developed  body  of  chivalric  legend  gathered  about  the 
personality  of  Arthur.  The  legends  are  so  well  known 
that  mere  allusions  to  characters  and  episodes  in  them 
are  as  well  understood  as  references  to  Tennyson's 
"  Idylls  "  would  be  among  us  to-day.  The  "  Lais  "  of 
Marie  de  France  therefore  point  strongly  to  Brittany  as 
the  true  cradle  of  the  Arthurian  saga,  on  its  chivalrous  and 
romantic  side.    They  do  not,  however,  mention  the  Grail. 

Chrestien  de  Troyes 

Lastly,  and  chiefly,  we  have  the  work  of  the  French 
poet  Chrestien  de  Troyes,  who  began  in  1 165  to  trans- 
late Breton  "Lais,"  like  Marie  de  France,  and  who 
practically  brought  the  Arthurian  saga  into  the  poetic 
literature  of  Europe,  and  gave  it  its  main  outline  and 
character.  He  wrote  a  "  Tristan  "  (now  lost).  He  (if 
not  Walter  Map)  introduced  Lancelot  of  the  Lake  into 
the  story  ;  he  wrote  a  Conte  del  Graal,  in  which  the 
Grail  legend  and  Perceval  make  their  first  appearance, 
though  he  left  the  story  unfinished,  and  does  not  tell 
us  what  the  "  Grail "  really  was.1  He  also  wrote  a  long 
conte  d'aventure  entitled  "  Erec,"  containing  the  story 
of  Geraint  and  Enid.     These  are  the   earliest  poems 

1  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  us,  the  character  of  this  object  was 
by  no  means  fixed  from  the  beginning.  In  the  poem  of  Wolfram 
von  Eschenbach  it  is  a  stone  endowed  with  magical  properties. 
The  word  is  derived  by  the  early  fabulists  from  greable,  something 
pleasant  to  possess  and  enjoy,  and  out  of  which  one  could  have 
a  son  gre,  whatever  he  chose  of  good  things.  The  Grail  legend  will 
be  dealt  with  later  in  connexion  with  the  Welsh  tale  "  Peredur." 
34-0 


BLEHERIS 

we  possess  in  which  the  Arthur  of  chivalric  legend 
comes  prominently  forward.  What  were  the  sources  of 
Chrestien  ?  No  doubt  they  were  largely  Breton.  Troyes 
is  in  Champagne,  which  had  been  united  to  Blois  in  1019 
by  Eudes,  Count  of  Blois,  and  reunited  again  after  a 
period  of  dispossession  by  Count  Theobald  de  Blois  in 
1 128.  Marie,  Countess  of  Champagne,  was  Chrestien's 
patroness.  And  there  were  close  connexions  between 
the  ruling  princes  of  Blois  and  of  Brittany.  Alain  II.,  a 
Duke  of  Brittany,  had  in  the  tenth  century  married  a 
sister  of  the  Count  de  Blois,  and  in  the  first  quarter 
of  the  thirteenth  century  Jean  I.  of  Brittany  married 
Blanche  de  Champagne,  while  their  daughter  Alix 
married  Jean  de  Chastillon,  Count  of  Blois,  in  1254. 
It  is  highly  probable,  therefore,  that  through  minstrels 
who  attended  their  Breton  lords  at  the  court  of  Blois, 
from  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century  onward,  a  great 
many  Breton  "  Lais  "  and  legends  found  their  way  into 
French  literature  during  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and 
thirteenth  centuries.  But  it  is  also  certain  that  the 
Breton  legends  themselves  had  been  strongly  affected 
by  French  influences,  and  that  to  the  Matiere  de  France, 
as  it  was  called  by  mediaeval  writers  1 — i.e.,  the  legends 
of  Charlemagne  and  his  Paladins — we  owe  the  Table 
Round  and  the  chivalric  institutions  ascribed  to  Arthur's 
court  at  Caerleon-on-Usk. 

Bleheris 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  (as  Miss  Jessie  L. 
Weston  has  emphasised  in  her  article  on  the  Arthur 
saga  in  the  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica ")  Gautier  de 
Denain,  the  earliest  of  the  continuators  or  re-workers 
of  Chrestien  de  Troyes,  mentions  as  his  authority  for 

1  Distinguished  by  these  from  the  other  great  storehouse  of 
poetic  legend,  the  Matiere  de  Bretagne — i.e.,  the  Arthurian  saga. 

341 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

stories  of  Gawain  one  Bleheris,  a  poet  "born  and 
bred  in  Wales."  This  forgotten  bard  is  believed  to 
be  identical  with  famosus  ilk  fabulator,  Bledhericus, 
mentioned  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  and  with  the 
Breris  quoted  by  Thomas  of  Brittany  as  an  authority 
for  the  Tristan  story. 

Conclusion  as  to  the  Origin  of  the  Arthurian  Saga 

In  the  absence,  however,  of  any  information  as  to 
when,  or  exactly  what,  Bleheris  wrote,  the  opinion 
must,  I  think,  hold  the  field  that  the  Arthurian  saga, 
as  we  have  it  now,  is  not  of  Welsh,  nor  even  of  pure 
Breton  origin.  The  Welsh  exiles  who  colonised  part 
of  Brittany  about  the  sixth  century  must  have  brought 
with  them  many  stories  of  the  historical  Arthur.  They 
must  also  have  brought  legends  of  the  Celtic  deity 
Artaius,  a  god  to  whom  altars  have  been  found  in 
France.  These  personages  ultimately  blended  into  one, 
even  as  in  Ireland  the  Christian  St.  Brigit  blended  with 
the  pagan  goddess  Brigindo.1  We  thus  get  a  mythical 
figure  combining  something  of  the  exaltation  of  a  god 
with  a  definite  habitation  on  earth  and  a  place  in  history. 
An  Arthur  saga  thus  arose,  which  in  its  Breton  (though 
not  its  Welsh)  form  was  greatly  enriched  by  material 
drawn  in  from  the  legends  of  Charlemagne  and  his 
peers,  while  both  in  Brittany  and  in  Wales  it  became 
a  centre  round  which  clustered  a  mass  of  floating 
legendary  matter  relating  to  various  Celtic  personages, 
human  and  divine.  Chrestien  de  Troyes,  working  on 
Breton  material,  ultimately  gave  it  the  form  in  which 
it  conquered  the  world,  and  in  which  it  became  in  the 
twelfth  and  the  thirteenth  centuries  what  the  Faust 
legend  was  in  later  times,  the  accepted  vehicle  for  the 
ideals  and  aspirations  of  an  epoch. 

1  See  p.  103. 
34* 


THE  SAGA  IN  WALES 

The  Saga  in  Wales 

From  the  Continent,  and  especially  from  Brittany,  the 
story  of  Arthur  came  back  into  Wales  transformed  and 
glorified.  The  late  Dr.  Heinrich  Zimmer,  in  one  of 
his  luminous  studies  of  the  subject,  remarks  that  "In 
Welsh  literature  we  have  definite  evidence  that  the 
South- Welsh  prince,  Rhys  ap  Tewdwr,  who  had  been 
in  Brittany,  brought  from  thence  in  the  year  1070  the 
knowledge  of  Arthur's  Round  Table  to  Wales,  where 
of  course  it  had  been  hitherto  unknown."  x  And  many 
Breton  lords  are  known  to  have  followed  the  banner  of 
William  the  Conqueror  into  England.2  The  introducers 
of  the  saga  into  Wales  found,  however,  a  considerable 
body  of  Arthurian  matter  of  a  very  different  character 
already  in  existence  there.  Besides  the  traditions  of  the 
historical  Arthur,  the  dux  bellorum  of  Nennius,  there  was 
the  Celtic  deity,  Artaius.  It  is  probably  a  reminiscence  of 
this  deity  whom  we  meet  with  under  the  name  of  Arthur 
in  the  only  genuine  Welsh  Arthurian  story  we  possess, 
the  story  of  Kilhwch  and  Olwen  in  the  "  Mabinogion." 
Much  of  the  Arthurian  saga  derived  from  Chrestien  and 
other  Continental  writers  was  translated  and  adapted  in 
Wales  as  in  other  European  countries,  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact  it  made  a  later  and  a  lesser  impression  in  Wales 
than  almost  anywhere  else.  It  conflicted  with  existing 
Welsh  traditions,  both  historical  and  mythological ;  it 
was  full  of  matter  entirely  foreign  to  the  Welsh  spirit, 
and  it  remained  always  in  Wales  something  alien  and 
unassimilated.     Into  Ireland  it  never  entered  at  all. 

These  few  introductory  remarks  do  not,  of  course, 
profess  to  contain  a  discussion  of  the  Arthurian  saga 
— a  vast  subject  with  myriad  ramifications,  historical, 

1  "  Cultur  der  Gegenwart,"  i.  ix. 

8  A  list  of  them  is  given  in  Lobineau's  "  Histoire  de  Bretagne." 

343 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

mythological,  mystical,  and  what  not — but  are  merely 
intended  to  indicate  the  relation  of  that  saga  to  genuine 
Celtic  literature  and  to  explain  why  we  shall  hear  so 
little  of  it  in  the  following  accounts  of  Cymric  myths 
and  legends.  It  was  a  great  spiritual  myth  which, 
arising  from  the  composite  source  above  described, 
overran  all  the  Continent,  as  its  hero  was  supposed 
to  have  done  in  armed  conquest,  but  it  cannot  be 
regarded  as  a  special  possession  of  the  Celtic  race, 
nor  is  it  at  present  extant,  except  in  the  form  of 
translation  or  adaptation,  in  any  Celtic  tongue. 

Gaelic  and  Cymric  Legend  Compared 

The  myths  and  legends  of  the  Celtic  race  which  have 
come  down  to  us  in  the  Welsh  language  are  in  some 
respects  of  a  different  character  from  those  which  we 
possess  in  Gaelic.  The  Welsh  material  is  nothing  like 
as  full  as  the  Gaelic,  nor  so  early.  The  tales  of  the 
"  Mabinogion  "  are  mainly  drawn  from  the  fourteenth- 
century  manuscript  entitled  "  The  Red  Book  of  Her- 
gest."  One  of  them,  the  romance  of  Taliesin,  came 
from  another  source,  a  manuscript  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  four  oldest  tales  in  the  "  Mabinogion  " 
are  supposed  by  scholars  to  have  taken  their  present 
shape  in  the  tenth  or  eleventh  century,  while  several 
Irish  tales,  like  the  story  of  Etain  and  Midir  or  the 
Death  of  Conary,  go  back  to  the  seventh  or  eighth. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  story  of  the  invasion  of 
Partholan  was  known  to  Nennius,  who  wrote  about 
the  year  800.  As  one  might  therefore  expect,  the 
mythological  elements  in  the  Welsh  romances  are 
usually  much  more  confused  and  harder  to  decipher  than 
in  the  earlier  of  the -Irish  tales.  The  mythic  interest 
has  grown  less,  the  story  interest  greater  ;  the  object 
of  the  bard  is  less  to  hand  down  a  sacred  Itext  than  to 
344 


GAELIC  AND  CONTINENTAL  ROMANCE 

entertain  a  prince's  court.  We  must  remember  also 
that  the  influence  of  the  Continental  romances  of 
chivalry  is  clearly  perceptible  in  the  Welsh  tales  ;  and, 
in  fact,  comes  eventually  to  govern  them  completely. 

Gaelic  and  Continental  Romance 

In  many  respects  the  Irish  Celt  anticipated  the  ideas 
of  these  romances.  The  lofty  courtesy  shown  to  each 
other  by  enemies,1  the  fantastic  pride  which  forbade  a 
warrior  to  take  advantage  of  a  wounded  adversary,2  the 
extreme  punctilio  with  which  the  duties  or  observances 
proper  to  each  man's  caste  or  station  were  observed3 — 
all  this  tone  of  thought  and  feeling  which  would  seem 
so  strange  to  us  if  we  met  an  instance  of  it  in  classical 
literature  would  seem  quite  familiar  and  natural  in 
Continental  romances  of  the  twelfth  and  later  centuries. 
Centuries  earlier  than  that  it  was  a  marked  feature  in 
Gaelic  literature.  Yet  in  the  Irish  romances,  whether 
Ultonian  or  Ossianic,  the  element  which  has  since  been 
considered  the  most  essential  motive  in  a  romantic  tale 
is  almost  entirely  lacking.  This  is  the  element  of  love, 
or  rather  of  woman-worship.  The  Continental  fabulist 
felt  that  he  could  do  nothing  without  this  motive  of 
action.  But  the  "  lady-love  "  of  the  English,  French, 
or  German  knight,  whose  favour  he  wore,  for  whose 
grace  he  endured  infinite  hardship  and  peril,  does  not 
meet  us  in  Gaelic  literature.  It  would  have  seemed 
absurd  to  the  Irish  Celt  to  make  the  plot  of  a  serious 
story  hinge  on  the  kind  of  passion  with  which  the 
mediaeval  Dulcinea  inspired  her  faithful  knight.  In 
the  two  most  famous  and  popular  of  Gaelic  love-tales, 

1  See,  e.g.,  pp.  243  and  218,  note. 

2  See  p.  233,  and  a  similar  case  in  the  author's  "High  Deeds  of 
Finn,"  p.  82. 

8  See  p.  232,  and  the  tale  of  the  recovery  of  the  "  Tain,"  p.  234. 

345 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  tale  of  Deirdre  and  "  The  Pursuit  of  Dermot  and 
Grania,"  the  women  are  the  wooers,  and  the  men  are 
most  reluctant  to  commit  what  they  know^to  be  the 
folly  of  yielding  to  them.  Now  this  romantic,  chivalric 
kind  of  love,  which  idealised  woman  into  a  goddess,  and 
made  the  service  of  his  lady  a  sacred  duty  to  the  knight, 
though  it  never  reached  in  Wales  the  height  which  it 
did  in  Continental  and  English  romances,  is  yet  clearly 
discernible  there.  We  can  trace  it  in  "  Kilhwch  and 
Olwen,"  which  is  comparatively  an  ancient  tale.  It  is 
well  developed  in  later  stories  like  "  Peredur  "  and 
"  The  Lady  of  the  Fountain."  It  is  a  symptom  of  the 
extent  to  which,  in  comparison  with  the  Irish,  Welsh 
literature  had  lost  its  pure  Celtic  strain  and  become 
affected — I  do  not,  of  course,  say  to  its  loss — by  foreign 
influences. 

Gaelic  and  Cymric  Mythology  :  Nudd 

The  oldest  of  the  Welsh  tales,  those  called  "  The 
Four  Branches  of  the  Mabinogi," *  are  the  richest  in 
mythological  elements,  but  these  occur  in  more  or  less 
recognisable  form  throughout  nearly  all  the  mediaeval 
tales,  and  even,  after  many  transmutations,  in  Malory. 
We  can  clearly  discern  certain  mythological  figures 
common  to  all  Celtica.  We  meet,  for  instance,  a 
personage  called  Nudd  or  Lludd,  evidently  a  solar 
deity.  A  temple  dating  from  Roman  times,  and 
dedicated  to  him  under  the  name  of  Nodens,  has  been 
discovered  at  Lydney,  by  the  Severn.  On  a  bronze 
plaque  found  near  the  spot  is  a  representation  of  the 
god.  He  is  encircled  by  a  halo  and  accompanied  by 
flying  spirits  and  by  Tritons.  We  are  reminded  of 
the  Danaan  deities  and  their  close  connexion  with  the 

1  "  Pwyll   King    of  Dyfed,"  "  Bran  and  Branwen,"  "  Math  Son 
of  Mathonwy,"  and  "  Manawyddan  Son  of  Llyr." 
346 


LLEW  LLAW  GYFFES 

sea  ;  and  when  we  find  that  in  Welsh  legend  an  epithet 
is  attached  to  Nudd,  meaning  "of  the  Silver  Hand" 
(though  no  extant  Welsh  legend  tells  the  meaning  of 
the  epithet),  we  have  no  difficulty  in  identifying  this 
Nudd  with  Nuada  of  the  Silver  Hand,  who  led  the 
Danaans  in  the  battle  of  Moytura.1  Under  his  name 
Lludd  he  is  said  to  have  had  a  temple  on  the  site  of 
St.  Paul's  in  London,  the  entrance  to  which,  according 
to  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  was  called  in  the  British 
tongue  Parth  Lludd)  which  the  Saxons  translated  Ludes 
Geaty  our  present  Ludgate. 

Llyr  and  Manawyddan 

Again,  when  we  find  a  mythological  personage  named 
Llyr,  with  a  son  named  Manawyddan, playing  a  promi- 
nent part  in  Welsh  legend,  we  may  safely  connect  them 
with  the  Irish  Lir  and  his  son  Mananan,  gods  of  the 
sea.  Llyr-cester,  now  Leicester,  was  a  centre  of  the 
worship  of  Llyr. 

Llew  Llaw  Gyffes 

Finally,  we  may  point  to  a  character  in  the 
"  Mabinogi,"  or  tale,  entitled  "  Math  Son  of  Mathonwy." 
The  name  of  this  character  is  given  as  Llew  Llaw 
Gyffes,  which  the  Welsh  fabulist  interprets  as  "The 
Lion  of  the  Sure  Hand,"  and  a  tale,  which  we  shall 
recount  later  on,  is  told  to  account  for  the  name.  But 
when  we  find  that  this  hero  exhibits  characteristics  which 
point  to  his  being  a  solar  deity,  such  as  an  amazingly 
rapid  growth  from  childhood  into  manhood,  and  when 
we  are  told,  moreover,  by  Professor  Rhys  that  Gyffes 
originally  meant,  not  "  steady  "  or  "  sure,"  but  "  long,"  2 
it  becomes  evident  that  we  have  here  a  dim  and  broken 
reminiscence  of  the  deity  whom  the  Gaels  called  Lugh 
1  See  p.  107.  2  "  Hibbert  Lectures,"  pp.  237-240. 

347 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

of  the  Long  Arm,1  Lugh  Lamh  Fada.  The  misunder- 
stood name  survived,  and  round  the  misunderstanding 
legendary  matter  floating  in  the  popular  mind  crystallised 
itself  in  a  new  story. 

These  correspondences  might  be  pursued  in  much 
further  detail.  It  is  enough  here  to  point  to  their  exist- 
ence as  evidence  of  the  original  community  of  Gaelic 
and  Cymric  mythology.2  We  are,  in  each  literature, 
in  the  same  circle  of  mythological  ideas.  In  Wales, 
however,  these  ideas  are  harder  to  discern  ;  the  figures 
and  their  relationships  in  the  Welsh  Olympus  are  less 
accurately  defined  and  more  fluctuating.  It  would  seem 
as  if  a  number  of  different  tribes  embodied  what  were 
fundamentally  the  same  conceptions  under  different 
names  and  wove  different  legends  about  them.  The 
bardic  literature,  as  we  have  it  now,  bears  evidence  some- 
times of  the  prominence  of  one  of  these  tribal  cults, 
sometimes  of  another.  To  reduce  these  varying  accounts 
to  unity  is  altogether  impossible.  Still,  we  can  do  some- 
thing to  afford  the  reader  a  clue  to  the  maze. 

The  Houses  of  Don  and  of  Llyr 

Two  great  divine  houses  or  families  are  discernible — 
that  of  Don,  a  mother-goddess  (representing  the  Gaelic 
Dana),  whose  husband  is  Beli,  the  Irish  Bile,  god  of 
Death,  and  whose  descendants  are  the  Children  of  Light ; 
and  the  House  of  Llyr,  the  Gaelic  Lir,  who  here  repre- 
sents, not  a  Danaan  deity,  but  something  more  like  the 
Irish  Fomorians.     As  in  the  case  of  the  Irish  myth,  the 

1  See  pp.  88,  109,  &c.  Lugh,  of  course,  =  Lux,  Light.  The 
Celtic  words  Lamh  and  Llaw  were  used  indifferently  for  hand  or 
arm. 

2  Mr.  Squire,  in  his  "  Mythology  of  the  British  Islands,"  1905, 
has  brought  together  in  a  clear  and  attractive  form  the  most  recent 
results  of  studies  on  this  subject. 

348 


GWYN  AP  NUDD 

two  families  are  allied  by  intermarriage — Penardun, 
a  daughter  of  Don,  is  wedded  to  Llyr.  Don  herself 
has  a  brother,  Math,  whose  name  signifies  wealth  or 
treasure  {cf.  Greek  Pluton,  ploutos),  and  they  descend 
from  a  figure  indistinctly  characterised,  called  Mathonwy. 

The  House  of  Arthur 

Into  the  pantheon  of  deities  represented  in  the  four 
ancient  Mabinogi  there  came,  at  a  later  time,  from 
some  other  tribal  source,  another  group  headed  by 
Arthur,  the  god  Artaius.  He  takes  the  place  of 
Gwydion  son  of  Don,  and  the  other  deities  of  his  circle 
fall  more  or  less  accurately  into  the  places  of  others  of 
the  earlier  circle.  The  accompanying  genealogical  plans 
are  intended  to  help  the  reader  to  a  general  view  of  the 
relationships  and  attributes  of  these  personages.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  these  tabular 
arrangements  necessarily  involve  an  appearance  of  pre- 
cision and  consistency  which  is  not  reflected  in  the 
fluctuating  character  of  the  actual  myths  taken  as  a 
whole.  Still,  as  a  sketch-map  of  a  very  intricate  and 
obscure  region,  they  may  help  the  reader  who  enters  it 
for  the  first  time  to  find  his  bearings  in  it,  and  that  is 
the  only  purpose  they  propose  to  serve. 

Gwyn  ap  Nudd 

The  deity  named  Gwyn  ap  Nudd  is  said,  like  Finn 
in  Gaelic  legend,1  to  have  impressed  himself  more 
deeply  and  lastingly  on  the  Welsh  popular  imagination 
than  any  of  the  other  divinities.  A  mighty  warrior 
and  huntsman,  he  glories  in  the  crash  of  breaking 
spears,  and,  like  Odin,  assembles  the  souls  of  dead 
heroes  in  his  shadowy  kingdom,  for  although  he  belongs 

1  Finn  and  Gwyn  are  respectively  the  Gaelic  and  Cymric  forms 
of  the  same  name,  meaning  fair  or  white. 

349 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 


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352 


GWYN  AP  NUDD 

to  the  kindred  of  the  Light-gods,  Hades  is  his  special 
domain.  The  combat  between  him  and  Gwythur  ap 
Greidawl  (Victor,  son  of  Scorcher)  for  Creudylad, 
daughter  of  Lludd,  which  is  to  be  renewed  every  May- 
day till  time  shall  end,  represents  evidently  the  contest 
between  winter  and  summer  for  the  flowery  and  fertile 
earth.  "  Later,"  writes  Mr.  Charles  Squire,  "  he  came 
to  be  considered  as  King  of  the  Tylwyth  Teg,  the  Welsh 
fairies,  and  his  name  as  such  has  hardly  yet  died  out  of 
his  last  haunt,  the  romantic  vale  of  Neath.  .  .  .  He  is 
the  Wild  Huntsman  of  Wales  and  the  West  of  England, 
and  it  is  his  pack  which  is  sometimes  heard  at  chase  in 
waste  places  by  night."1  He  figures  as  a  god  of  war 
and  death  in  a  wonderful  poem  from  the  "  Black  Book 
of  Caermarthen,"  where  he  is  represented  as  discoursing 
with  a  prince  named  Gwyddneu  Garanhir,  who  had 
come  to  ask  his  protection.  I  quote  a  few  stanzas  : 
the  poem  will  be  found  in  full  in  Mr.  Squire's  excellent 
volume: 

"  I  come  from  battle  and  conflict 
With  a  shield  in  my  hand  ; 
Broken  is  my  helmet  by  the  thrusting  of  spears. 

"  Round-hoofed  is  my  horse,  the  torment  of  battle, 
Fairy  am  I  called,2  Gwyn  the  son  of  Nudd, 
The  lover  of  Crewrdilad,  the  daughter  of  Lludd. 


"  I  have  been  in  the  place  where  Gwendolen  was  slain, 
The  son  of  Ceidaw,  the  pillar  of  song, 
Where  the  ravens  screamed  over  blood. 

"  I  have  been  in  the  place  where  Bran  was  killed, 
The  son  of  Iweridd,  of  far-extending  fame, 
Where  the  ravens  of  the  battlefield  screamed. 

1  "  Mythology  of  the  British  Islands,"  p.  225. 

2  The  sense  appears  to  be  doubtful  here,  and  is  variously  rendered. 

z  353 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

"  J  have  been  where  Llacheu  was  slain, 
The  son  of  Arthur,  extolled  in  songs, 
When  the  ravens  screamed  over  blood. 

"  I  have  been  where  Mewrig  was  killed, 
The  son  of  Carreian,  of  honourable  fame, 
When  the  ravens  screamed  over  flesh. 

"  I  have  been  where  Gwallawg  was  killed, 
The  son  of  Goholeth,  the  accomplished, 
The  resister  of  Lloegyr,1  the  son  of  Lleynawg. 

"  I  have  been  where  the  soldiers  of  Britain  were  slain, 
From  the  east  to  the  north : 
I  am  the  escort  of  the  grave. 

"  I  have  been  where  the  soldiers  of  Britain  were  slain, 
From  the  east  to  the  south  : 
I  am  alive,  they  in  death." 

Myrddin,  or  Merlin 

A  deity  named  Myrddin  holds  in  Arthur's  mytho- 
logical cycle  the  place  of  the  Sky-  and  Sun-god,  Nudd. 
One  of  the  Welsh  Triads  tells  us  that  Britain,  before 
it  was  inhabited,  was  called  Clas  Myrddin^  Myrddin's 
Enclosure.  One  is  reminded  of  the  Irish  fashion  of 
calling  any  favoured  spot  a  "  cattle-fold  of  the  sun  " — 
the  name  is  applied  by  Deirdre  to  her  beloved  Scottish 
home  in  Glen  Etive.  Professor  Rhys  suggests  that 
Myrddin  was  the  deity  specially  worshipped  at  Stone- 
henge,  which,  according  to  British  tradition  as  reported 
by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  was  erected  by  "  Merlin," 
the  enchanter  who  represents  the  form  into  which 
Myrddin  had  dwindled  under  Christian  influences. 
We  are  told  that  the  abode  of  Merlin  was  a  house  of 
glass,  or  a  bush  of  whitethorn  laden  with  bloom,  or  a 
sort  of  smoke  or  mist  in  the  air,  or  "  a  close  neither  of 
iron  nor  steel  nor  timber  nor  of  stone,  but  of  the  air 

1  Lloegyr  =  Saxon  Britain. 
354 


NYNNIAW  AND  PEIBAW 
without  any  other  thing,  by  enchantment  so  strong  that 
it  may  never  be  undone  while  the  world  endureth."  1 
Finally  he  descended  upon  Bardsey  Island,  "  off  the 
extreme  westermost  point  of  Carnarvonshire  .  .  .  into 
it  he  went  with  nine  attendant  bards,  taking  with  him 
the  c  Thirteen  Treasures  of  Britain,'  thenceforth  lost  to 
men."  Professor  Rhys  points  out  that  a  Greek  traveller 
named  Demetrius,  who  is  described  as  having  visited 
Britain  in  the  first  century  a.d.,  mentions  an  island  in 
the  west  where  "  Kronos  "  was  supposed  to  be  imprisoned 
with  his  attendant  deities,  and  Briareus  keeping  watch 
over  him  as  he  slept,  "  for  sleep  was  the  bond  forged 
for  him."  Doubtless  we  have  here  a  version,  Hellenised 
as  was  the  wont  of  classical  writers  on  barbaric  myths, 
of  a  British  story  of  the  descent  of  the  Sun-god  into  the 
western  sea,  and  his  imprisonment  there  by  the  powers 
of  darkness,  with  the  possessions  and  magical  potencies 
belonging  to  Light  and  Life.2 

Nynniaw  and  Peibaw 

The  two  personages  called  Nynniaw  and  Peibaw  who 
figure  in  the  genealogical  table  play  a  very  slight  part  in 
Cymric  mythology,  but  one  story  in  which  they  appear 
is  interesting  in  itself  and  has  an  excellent  moral.  They 
are  represented3  as  two  brothers,  Kings  of  Britain,  who 
were  walking  together  one  starlight  night.  "See  what 
a  fine  far-spreading  field  I  have,"  said  Nynniaw.  "  Where 
is  it?"  asked  Peibaw.  "There  aloft  and  as  far  as  you 
can  see,"  said  Nynniaw,  pointing  to  the  sky.  "But 
look  at  all  my  cattle  grazing  in  your  field,"  said  Peibaw. 

1  Rhys,  "  Hibbert  Lectures,"  quoting  from  the  ancient  saga  of 
Merlin  published  by  the  English  Text  Society,  p.  693. 

2  "  Mythology  of  the  British  Islands,"  pp.  325,  326  ;  and  Rhys, 
"Hibbert  Lectures,"  p.  155  sqq. 

8   In  the  "  Iolo  MSS.,"  collected  by  Edward  Williams. 

355 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

"Where  are  they?"  said  Nynniaw.  "All  the  golden 
stars,"  said  Peibaw,  "with  the  moon  for  their  shepherd." 
"They  shall  not  graze  on  my  field,"  cried  Nynniaw. 
"I  say  they  shall,"  returned  Peibaw.  "They  shall 
not."  "They  shall."  And  so  they  went  on:  first  they 
quarrelled  with  each  other,  and  then  went  to  war,  and 
armies  were  destroyed  and  lands  laid  waste,  till  at  last 
the  two  brothers  were  turned  into  oxen  as  a  punishment 
for  their  stupidity  and  quarrelsomeness. 

The  "  Mabinogion  " 

We  now  come  to  the  work  in  which  the  chief 
treasures  of  Cymric  myth  and  legend  were  collected  by 
Lady  Charlotte  Guest  sixty  years  ago,  and  given  to  the 
world  in  a  translation  which  is  one  of  the  masterpieces 
of  English  literature.  The  title  of  this  work,  the 
"  Mabinogion,"  is  the  plural  form  of  the  word  Mabinogi, 
which  means  a  story  belonging  to  the  equipment  of  an 
apprentice-bard,  such  a  story  as  every  bard  had  neces- 
sarily to  learn  as  part  of  his  training,  whatever  more  he 
might  afterwards  add  to  his  repertoire.  Strictly  speaking, 
the  Mabinogi  in  the  volume  are  only  the  four  tales 
given  first  in  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt's  edition,  which  were 
entitled  the  "  Four  Branches  of  the  Mabinogi,"  and 
which  form  a  connected  whole.  They  are  among  the 
oldest  relics  of  Welsh  mythological  saga. 

Pwyll,  Head  of  Hades 

The  first  of  them  is  the  story  of  Pwyll,  Prince  of 
Dyfed,  and  relates  how  that  prince  got  his  title  of  Pen 
Annwri)  or  "  Head  of  Hades  " — Annwn  being  the  term 
under  which  we  identify  in  Welsh  literature  the  Celtic 
Land  of  the  Dead,  or  Fairyland.  It  is  a  story  with  a 
mythological  basis,  but  breathing  the  purest  spirit  of 
chivalric  honour  and  nobility. 
356 


PWYLL,  HEAD  OF  HADES 

Pwyll,  it  is  said,  was  hunting  one  day  in  the  woods 
of  Glyn  Cuch  when  he  saw  a  pack  of  hounds,  not  his 
own,  running  down  a  stag.  These  hounds  were  snow- 
white  in  colour,  with  red  ears.  If  Pwyll  had  had  any 
experience  in  these  matters  he  would  have  known  at 
once  what  kind  of  hunt  was  up,  for  these  are  the 
colours  of  Faery — the  red-haired  man,  the  red-eared 
hound  are  always  associated  with  magic.1  Pwyll,  how- 
ever, drove  off  the  strange  hounds,  and  was  setting  his 
own  on  the  quarry  when  a  horseman  of  noble  appear- 
ance came  up  and  reproached  him  for  his  discourtesy. 
Pwyll  offered  to  make  amends,  and  the  story  now 
develops  into  the  familiar  theme  of  the  Rescue  of 
Fairyland.  The  stranger's  name  is  Arawn,  a  king  in 
Annwn.  He  is  being  harried  and  dispossessed  by  a 
rival,  Havgan,  and  he  seeks  the  aid  of  Pwyll,  whom  he 
begs  to  meet  Havgan  in  single  combat  a  year  hence. 
Meanwhile  he  will  put  his  own  shape  on  Pwyll,  who  is 
to  rule  in  his  kingdom  till  the  eventful  day,  while 
Arawn  will  go  in  Pwyll's  shape  to  govern  Dyfed.  He 
instructs  Pwyll  how  to  deal  with  the  foe.  Havgan 
must  be  laid  low  with  a  single  stroke — if  another  is 
given  to  him  he  immediately  revives  again  as  strong  as 
ever. 

Pwyll  agreed  to  follow  up  the  adventure,  and  accord- 
ingly went  in  Arawn's  shape  to  the  kingdom  of  Annwn. 
Here  he  was  placed  in  an  unforeseen  difficulty.  The 
beautiful  wife  of  Arawn  greeted  him  as  her  husband. 
But  when  the  time  came  for  them  to  retire  to  rest  he 
set  his  face  to  the  wall  and  said  no  word  to  her,  nor 
touched  her  at  all  until  the  morning  broke.  Then 
they  rose  up,  and  Pwyll  went  to  the  hunt,  and  ruled  his 
kingdom,  and  did  all  things  as  if  he  were  monarch  of  the 
land.  And  whatever  affection  he  showed  to  the  queen 
1  See,  e,g.,  pp.  in,  272. 

357 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

in  public  during  the  day,  he  passed  every  night  even  as 
this  first. 

At  last  the  day  of  battle  came,  and,  like  the  chieftains 
in  Gaelic  story,  Pwyll  and  Havgan  met  each  other  in 
the  midst  of  a  river-ford.  They  fought,  and  at  the 
first  clash  Havgan  was  hurled  a  spear's  length  over  the 
crupper  of  his  horse  and  fell  mortally  wounded.1  "  For 
the  love  of  heaven,"  said  he,  "  slay  me  and  complete 
thy  work."  "  I  may  yet  repent  that,"  said  Pwyll. 
"  Slay  thee  who  may,  I  will  not."  Then  Havgan  knew 
that  his  end  was  come,  and  bade  his  nobles  bear  him 
off ;  and  Pwyll  with  all  his  army  overran  the  two 
kingdoms  of  Annwn,  and  made  himself  master  of  all 
the  land,  and  took  homage  from  its  princes  and  lords. 

Then  he  rode  off  alone  to  keep  his  tryst  in  Glyn 
Cuch  with  Arawn  as  they  had  appointed.  Arawn 
thanked  him  for  all  he  had  done,  and  added :  "  When 
thou  comest  thyself  to  thine  own  dominions  thou  wilt 
see  what  I  have  done  for  thee."  They  exchanged 
shapes  once  more,  and  each  rode  in  his  own  likeness  to 
take  possession  of  his  own  land. 

At  the  court  of  Annwn  the  day  was  spent  in  joy  and 
feasting,  though  none  but  Arawn  himself  knew  that  any- 
thing unusual  had  taken  place.  When  night  came  Arawn 
kissed  and  caressed  his  wife  as  of  old,  and  she  pondered 
much  as  to  what  might  be  the  cause  of  his  change  towards 
her,  and  of  his  previous  change  a  year  and  a  day  before. 
And  as  she  was  thinking  over  these  things  Arawn  spoke 
to  her  twice  or  thrice,  but  got  no  answer.  He  then 
asked  her  why  she  was  silent.  "  I  tell  thee,"  she  said, 
"  that  for  a  year  I   have  not  spoken  so  much  in  this 

1  We  see  here  that  we  have  got  far  from  primitive  Celtic  legend. 
The  heroes  fight  like  mediaeval  knights  on  horseback,  tilting  at  each 
other  with  spears,  not  in  chariots  or  on    foot,  and   not  with  the 
strange  weapons  which  figure  in  Gaelic  battle-tales. 
358 


THE  WEDDING  OF  PWYLL  AND  RHIANNON 
place."  "  Did  not  we  speak  continually  ? "  he  said. 
"  Nay,"  said  she,  "  but  for  a  year  back  there  has  been 
neither  converse  nor  tenderness  between  us."  "  Good 
heaven  !  "  thought  Arawn,  "  a  man  as  faithful  and  firm 
in  his  friendship  as  any  have  I  found  for  a  friend." 
Then  he  told  his  queen  what  had  passed.  "  Thou  hast 
indeed  laid  hold  of  a  faithful  friend,"  she  said. 

And  Pwyll  when  he  came  back  to  his  own  land 
called  his  lords  together  and  asked  them  how  they 
thought  he  had  sped  in  his  kingship  during  the  past 
year.  "  Lord,"  said  they,  "  thy  wisdom  was  never  so 
great,  and  thou  wast  never  so  kind  and  free  in  bestow- 
ing thy  gifts,  and  thy  justice  was  never  more  worthily 
seen  than  in  this  year."  Pwyll  then  told  them  the 
story  of  his  adventure.  "  Verily,  lord,"  said  they, 
"  render  thanks  unto  heaven  that  thou  hast  such  a 
fellowship,  and  withhold  not  from  us  the  rule  which  we 
have  enjoyed  for  this  year  past."  "  I  take  heaven  to 
witness  that  I  will  not  withhold  it,"  said  Pwyll. 

So  the  two  kings  made  strong  the  friendship  that  was 
between  them,  and  sent  each  other  rich  gifts  of  horses 
and  hounds  and  jewels  ;  and  in  memory  of  the  adven- 
ture Pwyll  bore  thenceforward  the  title  of  "  Lord  of 
Annwn." 

The  Wedding  of  Pwyll  and  Rhiannon 

Near  to  the  castle  of  Narberth,  where  Pwyll  had  his 
court,  there  was  a  mound  called  the  Mound  of  Arberth, 
of  which  it  was  believed  that  whoever  sat  upon  it  would 
have  a  strange  adventure  :  either  he  would  receive 
blows  and  wounds  or  he  would  see  a  wonder.  One 
day  when  all  his  lords  were  assembled  at  Narberth  for 
a  feast  Pwyll  declared  that  he  would  sit  on  the  mound 
and  see  what  would  befall. 

He  did  so,  and  after  a  little  while  saw  approaching 

3S9 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

him  along  the  road  that  led  to  the  mound  a  lady  clad 
in  garments  that  shone  like  gold,  and  sitting  on  a 
pure  white  horse.  "  Is  there  any  among  you,"  said 
Pwyll  to  his  men,  "who  knows  that  lady  ?"  "  There 
is  not,"  said  they.  "  Then  go  to  meet  her  and  learn 
who  she  is."  But  as  they  rode  towards  the  lady  she 
moved  away  from  them,  and  however  fast  they  rode 
she  still  kept  an  even  distance  between  her  and  them, 
yet  never  seemed  to  exceed  the  quiet  pace  with  which 
she  had  first  approached. 

Several  times  did  Pwyll  seek  to  have  the  lady 
overtaken  and  questioned,  but  all  was  in  vain — none 
could  draw  near  to  her. 

Next  day  Pwyll  ascended  the  mound  again,  and  once 
more  the  fair  lady  on  her  white  steed  drew  near.  This 
time  Pwyll  himself  pursued  her,  but  she  flitted  away 
before  him  as  she  had  done  before  his  servants,  till  at 
last  he  cried  :  "  O  maiden,  for  the  sake  of  him  thou 
best  lovest,  stay  for  me."  "  I  will  stay  gladly,"  said 
she,  "  and  it  were  better  for  thy  horse  had  thou  asked 
it  long  since." 

Pwyll  then  questioned  her  as  to  the  cause  of  her 
coming,  and  she  said  :  "lam  Rhiannon,  the  daughter 
of  Hevydd  Hen,1  and  they  sought  to  give  me  to  a 
husband  against  my  will.  But  no  husband  would  I 
have,  and  that  because  of  my  love  for  thee  ;  neither  will 
I  yet  have  one  if  thou  reject  me."  "  By  heaven  !  " 
said  Pwyll,  "  if  I  might  choose  among  all  the  ladies 
and  damsels  of  the  world,  thee  would  I  choose." 

They  then  agree  that  in  a  twelvemonth  from  that 
day  Pwyll  is  to  come  and  claim  her  at  the  palace  of 
Hevydd  Hen. 

Pwyll  kept  his  tryst,  with  a  following  of  a  hundred 

1  Hen,  "  the  Ancient " ;  an  epithet  generally  implying  a  hoary 
antiquity  associated  with  mythological  tradition. 
360 


THE  WEDDING  OF  PWYLL  AND  RHIANNON 
knights,  and  found  a  splendid  feast  prepared  for  him, 
and  he  sat  by  his  lady,  with  her  father  on  the  other 
side.  As  they  feasted  and  talked  there  entered  a  tall, 
auburn-haired  youth  of  royal  bearing,  clad  in  satin, 
who  saluted  Pwyll  and  his  knights.  Pwyll  invited 
him  to  sit  down.  "  Nay,  I  am  a  suitor  to  thee,"  said 
the  youth  ;  "  to  crave  a  boon  am  I  come."  "  Whatever 
thou  wilt  thou  shalt  have,"  said  Pwyll  unsuspiciously, 
"if  it  be  in  my  power."  "Ah,"  cried  Rhiannon, 
"wherefore  didst  thou  give  that  answer,?"  "Hath 
he  not  given  it  before  all  these  nobles?"  said  the 
youth  ;  "  and  now  the  boon  I  crave  is  to  have  thy 
bride  Rhiannon,  and  the  feast  and  the  banquet  that  are 
in  this  place."  Pwyll  was  silent.  "  Be  silent  as  long 
as  thou  wilt,"  said  Rhiannon.  "Never  did  man  make 
worse  use  of  his  wits  than  thou  hast  done."  She  tells 
him  that  the  auburn-haired  young  man  is  Gwawl,  son 
of  Clud,  and  is  the  suitor  to  escape  from  whom  she 
had  fled  to  Pwyll. 

Pwyll  is  bound  in  honour  by  his  word,  and  Rhiannon 
explains  that  the  banquet  cannot  be  given  to  Gwawl, 
for  it  is  not  in  Pwyll's  power,  but  that  she  herself  will 
be  his  bride  in  a  twelvemonth  ;  Gwawl  is  to  come  and 
claim  her  then,  and  a  new  bridal  feast  will  be  prepared 
for  him.  Meantime  she  concerts  a  plan  with  Pwyll, 
and  gives  him  a  certain  magical  bag,  which  he  is  to 
make  use  of  when  the  time  shall  come. 

A  year  passed  away,  Gwawl  appeared  according  to 
the  compact,  and  a  great  feast  was  again  set  forth,  in 
which  he,  and  not  Pwyll,  had  the  place  of  honour.  As 
the  company  were  making  merry,  however,  a  beggar 
clad  in  rags  and  shod  with  clumsy  old  shoes  came  into 
the  hall,  carrying  a  bag,  as  beggars  are  wont  to  do.  He 
humbly  craved  a  boon  of  Gwawl.  It  was  merely  that 
the  full  of  his  bag  of  food  might  be  given   him  from 

361 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  banquet.  Gwawl  cheerfully  consented,  and  an 
attendant  went  to  fill  the  bag.  But  however  much 
they  put  into  it  it  never  got  fuller — by  degrees  all 
the  good  things  on  the  tables  had  gone  in ;  and  at  last 
Gwawl  cried  :  "  My  soul,  will  thy  bag  never  be  full  ?  " 
"  It  will  not,  I  declare  to  heaven,"  answered  Pwyll 
— for  he,  of  course,  was  the  disguised  beggar  man — 
"  unless  some  man  wealthy  in  lands  and  treasure  shall 
get  into  the  bag  and  stamp  it  down  with  his  feet,  and 
declare,  c  Enough  has  been  put  herein.' "  Rhiannon 
urged  Gwawl  to  check  the  voracity  of  the  bag.  He  put 
his  two  feet  into  it;  Pwyll  immediately  drew  up  the 
sides  of  the  bag  over  Gwawl's  head  and  tied  it  up. 
Then  he  blew  his  horn,  and  the  knights  he  had  with 
him,  who  were  concealed  outside,  rushed  in,  and 
captured  and  bound  the  followers  of  Gwawl.  "  What 
is  in  the  bag  ? "  they  cried,  and  others  answered,  "A 
badger,"  and  so  they  played  the  game  of  "  Badger  in 
the  Bag,"  striking  it  and  kicking  it  about  the  hall. 

At  last  a  voice  was  heard  from  it.  "  Lord,"  cried 
Gwawl,  "  if  thou  wouldst  but  hear  me,  I  merit  not  to 
be  slain  in  a  bag."  "  He  speaks  truth,"  said  Hevydd 
Hen. 

So  an  agreement  was  come  to  that  Gwawl  should 
provide  means  for  Pwyll  to  satisfy  all  the  suitors  and 
minstrels  who  should  come  to  the  wedding,  and 
abandon  Rhiannon,  and  never  seek  to  have  revenge 
for  what  had  been  done  to  him.  This  was  confirmed 
by  sureties,  and  Gwawl  and  his  men  were  released  and 
went  to  their  own  territory.  And  Pwyll  wedded 
Rhiannon,  and  dispensed  gifts  royally  to  all  and 
sundry  ;  and  at  last  the  pair,  when  the  feasting  was 
done,  journeyed  down  to  the  palace  of  Narberth  in 
Dyfed,  where  Rhiannon  gave  rich  gifts,  a  bracelet  and 
a  ring  or  a  precious  stone  to  all  the  lords  and  ladies  of 
362 


The  Penance  of  Rhiannon 


362 


THE  FINDING  OF  PRYDERI 

her  new  country,  and  they  ruled  the  land  in  peace 
both  that  year  and  the  next.  But  the  reader  will  find 
that  we  have  not  yet  done  with  Gwawl. 

The  Penance  of  Rhiannon 

Now  Pwyll  was  still  without  an  heir  to  the  throne, 
and  his  nobles  urged  him  to  take  another  wife.  "  Grant 
us  a  year  longer,"  said  he,  "and  if  there  be  no  heir 
after  that  it  shall  be  as  you  wish."  Before  the  year's 
end  a  son  was  born  to  them  in  Narberth.  But  although 
six  women  sat  up  to  watch  the  mother  and  the  infant, 
it  happened  towards  the  morning  that  they  all  fell 
asleep,  and  Rhiannon  also  slept,  and  when  the  women 
awoke,  behold,  the  boy  was  gone !  "  We  shall  be 
burnt  for  this,"  said  the  women,  and  in  their  terror 
they  concocted  a  horrible  plot  :  they  killed  a  cub  of 
a  staghound  that  had  just  been  littered,  and  laid  the 
bones  by  Rhiannon,  and  smeared  her  face  and  hands 
with  blood  as  she  slept,  and  when  she  woke  and  asked 
for  her  child  they  said  she  had  devoured  it  in  the  night, 
and  had  overcome  them  with  furious  strength  when 
they  would  have  prevented  her — and  for  all  she  could 
say  or  do  the  six  women  persisted  in  this  story. 

When  the  story  was  told  to  Pwyll  he  would  not  put 
away  Rhiannon,  as  his  nobles  now  again  begged  him  to 
do,  but  a  penance  was  imposed  on  her — namely,  that 
she  was  to  sit  every  day  by  the  horse-block  at  the  gate 
of  the  castle  and  tell  the  tale  to  every  stranger  who 
came,  and  offer  to  carry  them  on  her  back  into  the  castle. 
And  this  she  did  for  part  of  a  year. 

The  Finding  of  Pryderi1 

Now  at  this  time  there  lived  a  man  named  Teirnyon 
of  Gwent  Is  Coed,  who  had  the  most  beautiful  mare  in 

1  Pronounced  "  Pry-dair'y." 

363 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

the  world,  but  there  was  this  misfortune  attending  her, 
that  although  she  foaled  on  the  night  of  every  first  of 
May,  none  ever  knew  what  became  of  the  colts.  At 
last  Teirnyon  resolved  to  get  at  the  truth  of  the  matter, 
and  the  next  night  on  which  the  mare  should  foal  he 
armed  himself  and  watched  in  the  stable.  So  the  mare 
foaled,  and  the  colt  stood  up,  and  Teirnyon  was  admiring 
its  size  and  beauty  when  a  great  noise  was  heard  out- 
side, and  a  long,  clawed  arm  came  through  the  window 
of  the  stable  and  laid  hold  of  the  colt.  Teirnyon  imme- 
diately smote  at  the  arm  with  his  sword,  and  severed  it 
at  the  elbow,  so  that  it  fell  inside  with  the  colt,  and  a 
great  wailing  and  tumult  was  heard  outside.  He  rushed 
out,  leaving  the  door  open  behind  him,  but  could  see 
nothing  because  of  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  he 
followed  the  noise  a  little  way.  Then  he  came  back, 
and  behold,  at  the  door  he  found  an  infant  in  swaddling- 
clothes  and  wrapped  in  a  mantle  of  satin.  He  took  up 
the  child  and  brought  it  to  where  his  wife  lay  sleeping. 
She  had  no  children,  and  she  loved  the  child  when  she 
saw  it,  and  next  day  pretended  to  her  women  that  she 
had  borne  it  as  her  own.  And  they  called  its  name 
Gwri  of  the  Golden  Hair,  for  its  hair  was  yellow  as  gold  ; 
and  it  grew  so  mightily  that  in  two  years  it  was  as  big 
and  strong  as  a  child  of  six  ;  and  ere  long  the  colt  that 
had  been  foaled  on  the  same  night  was  broken  in  and 
given  him  to  ride. 

While  these  things  were  going  on  Teirnyon  heard  the 
tale  of  Rhiannon  and  her  punishment.  And  as  the  lad 
grew  up  he  scanned  his  face  closely  and  saw  that  he  had 
the  features  of  Pwyll  Prince  of  Dyfed.  This  he  told  to 
his  wife,  and  they  agreed  that  the  child  should  be  taken 
to  Narberth,  and  Rhiannon  released  from  her  penance. 

As  they  drew  near  to  the  castle,  Teirnyon  and  two 
knights  and  the  child  riding  on  his  colt,  there  was 
364 


THE  TALE  OF  BRAN  AND  OF  BRANWEN 
Rhiannon  sitting  by  the  horse-block.  "  Chieftains," 
said  she,  "  go  not  further  thus  ;  I  will  bear  every  one  of 
you  into  the  palace,  and  this  is  my  penance  for  slaying 
my  own  son  and  devouring  him."  But  they  would  not 
be  carried,  and  went  in.  Pwyll  rejoiced  to  see  Teirnyon, 
and  made  a  feast  for  him.  Afterwards  Teirnyon  declared 
to  Pwyll  and  Rhiannon  the  adventure  of  the  man  and 
the  colt,  and  how  they  had  found  the  boy.  "  And 
behold,  here  is  thy  son,  lady,"  said  Teirnyon,  "  and 
whoever  told  that  lie  concerning  thee  has  done  wrong." 
All  who  sat  at  table  recognised  the  lad  at  once  as  the 
child  of  Pwyll,  and  Rhiannon  cried  :  "I  declare  to  heaven 
that  if  this  be  true  there  is  an  end  to  my  trouble."  And 
a  chief  named  Pendaran  said :  "  Well  hast  thou  named 
thy  son  Pryderi  [trouble],  and  well  becomes  him  the 
name  of  Pryderi  son  of  Pwyll,  Lord  of  Annwn."  It 
was  agreed  that  his  name  should  be  Pryderi,  and  so 
he  was  called  thenceforth. 

Teirnyon  rode  home,  overwhelmed  with  thanks  and 
love  and  gladness  ;  and  Pwyll  offered  him  rich  gifts  of 
horses  and  jewels  and  dogs,  but  he  would  take  none  of 
them.  And  Pryderi  was  trained  up,  as  befitted  a  king's 
son,  in  all  noble  ways  and  accomplishments,  and  when 
his  father  Pwyll  died  he  reigned  in  his  stead  over  the 
Seven  Cantrevs  of  Dyfed.  And  he  added  to  them  many 
other  fair  dominions,  and  at  last  he  took  to  wife  Kicva, 
daughter  of  Gwynn  Gohoyw,  who  came  of  the  lineage 
of  Prince  Casnar  of  Britain. 

The  Tale  of  Bran  and  Branwen 

Bendigeid  Vran,  or  "  Bran  the  Blessed,"  by  which 
latter  name  we  shall  designate  him  here,  when  he  had 
been  made  King  of  the  Isle  of  the  Mighty  (Britain), 
was  one  time  in  his  court  at  Harlech.  And  he  had 
with  him  his  brother  Manawyddan  son  of  Llyr,  and  his 

365 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

sister  Branwen,  and  the  two  sons,  Nissyen  and  Evnissyen, 
that  Penardun  his  mother  bore  to  Eurosswyd.  Now 
Nissyen  was  a  youth  of  gentle  nature,  and  would  make 
peace  among  his  kindred  and  cause  them  to  be  friends 
when  their  wrath  was  at  its  highest ;  but  Evnissyen 
loved  nothing  so  much  as  to  turn  peace  into  contention 
and  strife. 

One  afternoon,  as  Bran  son  of  Llyr  sat  on  the  rock 
of  Harlech  looking  out  to  sea,  he  beheld  thirteen  ships 
coming  rapidly  from  Ireland  before  a  fair  wind.  They 
were  gaily  furnished,  bright  flags  flying  from  the  masts, 
and  on  the  foremost  ship,  when  they  came  near,  a  man 
could  be  seen  holding  up  a  shield  with  the  point 
upwards  in  sign  of  peace.1 

When  the  strangers  landed  they  saluted  Bran  and 
explained  their  business.  Matholwch,2  King  of  Ireland, 
was  with  them ;  his  were  the  ships,  and  he  had  come  to 
ask  for  the  hand  in  marriage  of  Bran's  sister,  Branwen, 
so  that  Ireland  and  Britain  might  be  leagued  together 
and  both  become  more  powerful.  "  Now  Branwen  was 
one  of  the  three  chief  ladies  of  the  island,  and  she  was 
the  fairest  damsel  in  the  world." 

The  Irish  were  hospitably  entertained,  and  after 
taking  counsel  with  his  lords  Bran  agreed  to  give 
his  sister  to  Matholwch.  The  place  of  the  wedding 
was  fixed  at  Aberflfraw,  and  the  company  assembled  for 
the  feast  in  tents  because  no  house  could  hold  the  giant 
form  of  Bran.  They  caroused  and  made  merry  in  peace 
and  amity,  and  Branwen  became  the  bride  of  the  Irish 
king. 

Next  day  Evnissyen  came  by  chance  to  where  the 

1  Evidently  this  was  the  triangular  Norman  shield,  not  the  round 
or  oval  Celtic  one.  It  has  already  been  noticed  that  in  these  Welsh 
tales  the  knights  when  they  fight  tilt  at  each  other  with  spears. 

2  The  reader  may  pronounce  this  "  Matholaw." 
366 


THE  MAGIC  CAULDRON 

horses  of  Matholwch  were  ranged,  and  he  asked  whose 
they  were.  "  They  are  the  horses  of  Matholwch,  who 
is  married  to  thy  sister."  "  And  is  it  thus,"  said  he, 
"  they  have  done  with  a  maiden  such  as  she,  and,  more- 
over, my  sister,  bestowing  her  without  my  consent  ? 
They  could  offer  me  no  greater  insult."  Thereupon 
he  rushed  among  the  horses  and  cut  off  their  lips  at  the 
teeth,  and  their  ears  to  their  heads,  and  their  tails  close 
to  the  body,  and  where  he  could  seize  the  eyelids  he  cut 
them  off*  to  the  bone. 

When  Matholwch  heard  what  had  been  done  he  was 
both  angered  and  bewildered,  and  bade  his  people  put  to 
sea.  Bran  sent  messengers  to  learn  what  had  happened, 
and  when  he  had  been  informed  he  sent  Manawyddan 
and  two  others  to  make  atonement.  Matholwch  should 
have  sound  horses  for  every  one  that  was  injured,  and 
in  addition  a  staff  of  silver  as  large  and  as  tall  as  himself, 
and  a  plate  of  gold  the  size  of  his  face.  "  And  let  him 
come  and  meet  me,"  he  added,  "and  we  will  make  peace 
in  any  way  he  may  desire."  But  as  for  Evnissyen,  he 
was  the  son  of  Bran's  mother,  and  therefore  Bran  could 
not  put  him  to  death  as  he  deserved. 

The  Magic  Cauldron 

Matholwch  accepted  these  terms,  but  not  very  cheer- 
fully, and  Bran  now  offered  another  treasure,  namely,  a 
magic  cauldron  which  had  the  property  that  if  a  slain 
man  were  cast  into  it  he  would  come  forth  well  and 
sound,  only  he  would  not  be  able  to  speak.  Matholwch 
and  Bran  then  talked  about  the  cauldron,  which  originally, 
it  seems,  came  from  Ireland.  There  was  a  lake  in  that 
country  near  to  a  mound  (doubtless  a  fairy  mound) 
which  was  called  the  Lake  of  the  Cauldron.  Here 
Matholwch  had  once  met  a  tall  and  ill-looking  fellow 
with    a    wife    bigger    than    himself,  and    the    cauldron 

367 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

strapped  on  his  back.  They  took  service  with 
Matholwch.  At  the  end  of  a  period  of  six  weeks 
the  wife  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who  was  a  warrior  fully 
armed.  We  are  apparently  to  understand  that  this 
happened  every  six  weeks,  for  by  the  end  of  the  year 
the  strange  pair,  who  seem  to  be  a  war-god  and  goddess, 
had  several  children,  whose  continual  bickering  and  the 
outrages  they  committed  throughout  the  land  made 
them  hated.  At  last,  to  get  rid  of  them,  Matholwch 
had  a  house  of  iron  made,  and  enticed  them  into  it. 
He  then  barred  the  door  and  heaped  coals  about  the 
chamber,  and  blew  them  into  a  white  heat,  hoping  to 
roast  the  whole  family  to  death.  As  soon,  however,  as 
the  iron  walls  had  grown  white-hot  and  soft  the  man 
and  his  wife  burst  through  them  and  got  away,  but  the 
children  remained  behind  and  were  destroyed.  Bran 
then  took  up  the  story.  The  man,  who  was  called 
Llassar  Llaesgyvnewid,  and  his  wife  Kymideu  Kymein- 
voll,  come  across  to  Britain,  where  Bran  took  them 
in,  and  in  return  for  his  kindness  they  gave  him  the 
cauldron.  And  since  then  they  had  filled  the  land 
with  their  descendants,  who  prospered  everywhere  and 
dwelt  in  strong  fortified  burgs  and  had  the  best  weapons 
that  ever  were  seen. 

So  Matholwch  received  the  cauldron  along  with  his 
bride,  and  sailed  back  to  Ireland,  where  Branwen  enter- 
tained the  lords  and  ladies  of  the  land,  and  gave  to  each, 
as  he  or  she  took  leave,  "  either  a  clasp  or  a  ring  or  a 
royal  jewel  to  keep,  such  as  it  was  honourable  to  be  seen 
departing  with."  And  when  the  year  was  out  Branwen 
bore  a  son  to  Matholwch,  whose  name  was  called  Gwern. 

The  Punishment  of  Branwen 

There  occurs  now  an  unintelligible  place  in  the 
story.  In  the  second  year,  it  appears,  and  not  till  then, 
368 


THE  INVASION  OF  BRAN 

the  men  of  Ireland  grew  indignant  over  the  insult  to 
their  king  committed  by  Evnissyen,  and  took  revenge 
for  it  by  having  Branwen  degraded  to  the  position  of  a 
cook,  and  they  caused  the  butcher  every  day  to  give  her 
a  blow  on  the  ears.  They  also  forbade  all  ships  and 
ferry-boats  to  cross  to  Cambria,  and  any  who  came 
thence  into  Ireland  were  imprisoned  so  that  news  of 
Branwen's  ill-treatment  might  not  come  to  the  ears  of 
Bran.  But  Branwen  reared  up  a  young  starling  in  a 
corner  of  her  kneading-trough,  and  one  day  she  tied  a 
letter  under  its  wing  and  taught  it  what  to  do.  It  flew 
away  towards  Britain,  and  finding  Bran  at  Caer  Seiont 
in  Arvon,  it  lit  on  his  shoulder,  ruffling  its  feathers,  and 
the  letter  was  found  and  read.  Bran  immediately  pre- 
pared a  great  hosting  for  Ireland,  and  sailed  thither 
with  a  fleet  of  ships,  leaving  his  land  of  Britain  under 
his  son  Caradawc  and  six  other  chiefs. 

The  Invasion  of  Bran 

Soon  there  came  messengers  to  Matholwch  telling  him 
of  a  wondrous  sight  they  had  seen  ;  a  wood  was  growing 
on  the  sea,  and  beside  the  wood  a  mountain  with  a  high 
ridge  in  the  middle  of  it,  and  two  lakes,  one  at  each 
side.  And  wood  and  mountain  moved  towards  the 
shore  of  Ireland.  Branwen  is  called  up  to  explain,  if 
she  could,  what  this  meant.  She  tells  them  the  wood 
is  the  masts  and  yards  of  the  fleet  of  Britain,  and  the 
mountain  is  Bran,  her  brother,  coming  into  shoal  water, 
"  for  no  ship  can  contain  him  "  ;  the  ridge  is  his  nose, 
the  lakes  his  two  eyes.1 

The  King  of  Ireland  and  his  lords  at  once  took 
counsel  together  how  they  might  meet  this  danger  ; 
and  the  plan  they  agreed  upon  was  as  follows :  A  huge 

1  Compare  the  description  of  Mac  Cecht  in  the  tale  of  the  Hostel 
of  De  Derga,  p.  173. 

2  A  369 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

hall  should  be  built,  big  enough  to  hold  Bran — this,  it 
was  hoped,  would  placate  him — there  should  be  a  great 
feast  made  there  for  himself  and  his  men,  and  Matholwch 
should  give  over  the  kingdom  of  Ireland  to  him  and 
do  homage.  All  this  was  done  by  Branwen's  advice. 
But  the  Irish  added  a  crafty  device  of  their  own.  From 
two  brackets  on  each  of  the  hundred  pillars  in  the  hall 
should  be  hung  two  leather  bags,  with  an  armed  warrior 
in  each  of  them  ready  to  fall  upon  the  guests  when  the 
moment  should  arrive. 

The  Meal-bags 

Evnissyen,  however,  wandered  into  the  hall  before 
the  rest  of  the  host,  and  scanning  the  arrangements 
"  with  fierce  and  savage  looks,"  he  saw  the  bags  which 
hung  from  the  pillars.  "  What  is  in  this  bag  ?  "  said 
he  to  one  of  the  Irish.  "  Meal,  good  soul,"  said  the 
Irishman.  Evnissyen  laid  his  hand  on  the  bag,  and 
felt  about  with  his  fingers  till  he  came  to  the  head  of 
the  man  within  it.  Then  "  he  squeezed  the  head  till 
he  felt  his  fingers  meet  together  in  the  brain  through 
the  bone."  He  went  to  the  next  bag,  and  asked  the 
same  question.  "  Meal,"  said  the  Irish  attendant,  but 
Evnissyen  crushed  this  warrior's  head  also,  and  thus 
he  did  with  all  the  two  hundred  bags,  even  in  the 
case  of  one  warrior  whose  head  was  covered  with  an 
iron  helm. 

Then  the  feasting  began,  and  peace  and  concord 
reigned,  and  Matholwch  laid  down  the  sovranty  of 
Ireland,  which  was  conferred  on  the  boy  Gwern.  And 
they  all  fondled  and  caressed  the  fair  child  till  he 
came  to  Evnissyen,  who  suddenly  seized  him  and  flung 
him  into  the  blazing  fire  on  the  hearth.  Branwen 
would  have  leaped  after  him,  but  Bran  held  her  back. 
Then  there  was  arming  apace,  and  tumult  and  shouting, 
37° 


"  Evnissyen  laid  his  hand  on  the  bag" 


373 


THE  WONDERFUL  HEAD 

and   the   Irish  and  British  hosts  closed   in   battle  and 
fought  until  the  fall  of  night. 

Death  of  Evnissyen 

But  at  night  the  Irish  heated  the  magic  cauldron  and 
threw  into  it  the  bodies  of  their  dead,  who  came  out 
next  day  as  good  as  ever,  but  dumb.  When  Evnissyen 
saw  this  he  was  smitten  with  remorse  for  having  brought 
the  men  of  Britain  into  such  a  strait :  "  Evil  betide  me 
if  I  find  not  a  deliverance  therefrom."  So  he  hid  him- 
self among  the  Irish  dead,  and  was  flung  into  the 
cauldron  with  the  rest  at  the  end  of  the  second  day, 
when  he  stretched  himself  out  so  that  he  rent  the 
cauldron  into  four  pieces,  and  his  own  heart  burst  with 
the  effort,  and  he  died. 

The  Wonderful  Head 

In  the  end,  all  the  Irishmen  were  slain,  and  all  but 
seven  of  the  British  besides  Bran,  who  was  wounded  in 
the  foot  with  a  poisoned  arrow.  Among  the  seven 
were  Pryderi  and  Manawyddan.  Bran  then  commanded 
them  to  cut  off  his  head.  "  And  take  it  with  you," 
he  said,  "  to  London,  and  there  bury  it  in  the  White 
Mount 1  looking  towards  France,  and  no  foreigner  shall 
invade  the  land  while  it  is  there.  On  the  way  the 
Head  will  talk  to  you,  and  be  as  pleasant  company  as 
ever  in  life.  In  Harlech  ye  will  be  feasting  seven  years 
and  the  birds  of  Rhiannon  will  sing  to  you.  And  at 
Gwales  in  Penvro  ye  will  be  feasting  fourscore  years,  and 
the  Head  will  talk  to  you  and  be  uncorrupted  till  ye 
open  the  door  looking  towards  Cornwall.  After  that 
ye  may  no  longer  tarry,  but  set  forth  to  London  and 
bury  the  Head." 

Then  the  seven  cut  off  the  head  of  Bran  and  went 

1   Where  the  Tower  of  London  now  stands. 

371 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

forth,  and  Branwen  with  them,  to  do  his  bidding.  But 
when  Branwen  came  to  land  at  Aber  Alaw  she  cried, 
"  Woe  is  me  that  I  was  ever  born  ;  two  islands  have 
been  destroyed  because  of  me."  And  she  uttered  a 
loud  groan,  and  her  heart  broke.  They  made  her  a 
four-sided  grave  on  the  banks  of  the  Alaw,  and  the  place 
was  called  Tnys  Branwen  to  this  day.1 

The  seven  found  that  in  the  absence  of  Bran,  Cas- 
wallan  son  of  Beli  had  conquered  Britain  and  slain  the 
six  captains  of  Caradawc.  By  magic  art  he  had  thrown 
on  Caradawc  the  Veil  of  Illusion,  and  Caradawc  saw 
only  the  sword  which  slew  and  slew,  but  not  him  who 
wielded  it,  and  his  heart  broke  for  grief  at  the  sight. 

They  then  went  to  Harlech  and  remained  there  seven 
years  listening  to  the  singing  of  the  birds  of  Rhiannon 
— "  all  the  songs  they  had  ever  heard  were  unpleasant 
compared  thereto."  Then  they  went  to  Gwales  in 
Penvro  and  found  a  fair  and  spacious  hall  overlooking 
the  ocean.  When  they  entered  it  they  forgot  all  the 
sorrow  of  the  past  and  all  that  had  befallen  them,  and 
remained  there  fourscore  years  in  joy  and  mirth,  the 
wondrous  Head  talking  to  them  as  if  it  were  alive.  And 
bards  call  this  "  the  Entertaining  of  the  Noble  Head." 
Three  doors  were  in  the  hall,  and  one  of  them  which 
looked  to  Cornwall  and  to  Aber  Henvelyn  was  closed, 
but  the  other  two  were  open.  At  the  end  of  the  time, 
Heilyn  son  of  Gwyn  said,  "  Evil  betide  me  if  I  do  not 
open  the  door  to  see  if  what  was  said  is  true."  And 
he  opened  it,  and  at  once  remembrance  and  sorrow  fell 
upon  them,  and  they  set  forth  at  once  for  London  and 
buried  the  Head  in  the  White  Mount,  where  it  remained 

1  These  stories,  in  Ireland  and  in  Wales,  always  attach  themselves 
to  actual  burial-places.      In  1813  a  funeral  urn  containing  ashes  and 
half-burnt  bones  was  found  in  the  spot  traditionally  supposed  to  be 
Branwen'*  sepulchre. 
372 


THE  TALE  OF  PRYDERI  AND  MANAWYDDAN 

until  Arthur  dug  it  up,  for  he  would  not  have  the  land 
defended  but  by  the  strong  arm.  And  this  was  "  the 
Third  Fatal  Disclosure  "  in  Britain. 

So  ends  this  wild  tale,  which  isevidently  full  of  mytho- 
logical elements,  the  key  to  which  has  long  been  lost. 
The  touches  of  Northern  ferocity  which  occur  in  it 
have  made  some  critics  suspect  the  influence  of  Norse 
or  Icelandic  literature  in  giving  it  its  present  form. 
The  character  of  Evnissyen  would  certainly  lend  counte- 
nance to  this  conjecture.  The  typical  mischief-maker 
of  course  occurs  in  purely  Celtic  sagas,  but  not  com- 
monly in  combination  with  the  heroic  strain  shown  in 
Evnissyen's  end,  nor  does  the  Irish  "  poison-tongue  " 
ascend  to  anything  like  the  same  height  of  daimonic 
malignity. 

The  Tale  of  Pryderi  and  Manawyddan/ 

After  the  events  of  the  previous  tales  Pryderi  and 
Manawyddan  retired  to  the  dominions  of  the  former, 
and  Manawyddan  took  to  wife  Rhiannon,  the  mother 
of  his  friend.  There  they  lived  happily  and  pros- 
perously till  one  day,  while  they  were  at  the  Gorsedd, 
or  Mound,  near  Narberth,  a  peal  of  thunder  was  heard 
and  a  thick  mist  fell  so  that  nothing  could  be  seen  all 
round.  When  the  mist  cleared  away,  behold,  the  land 
was  bare  before  them — neither  houses  nor  people  nor 
cattle  nor  crops  were  to  be  seen,  but  all  was  desert  and 
uninhabited.  The  palace  of  Narberth  was  still  standing, 
but  it  was  empty  and  desolate — none  remained  except 
Pryderi  and  Manawyddan  and  their  wives,  Kicva  and 
Rhiannon. 

Two  years  they  lived  on  the  provisions  they  had,  and 
on  the  prey  they  killed,  and  on  wild  honey  ;  and  then 
they  began  to  be  weary.     "  Let  us  go  into  Lloegyr,"  1 
1  Saxon  Britain. 

373 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

then  said  Manawyddan,  "  and  seek  out  some  craft  to 
support  ourselves."  So  they  went  to  Hereford  and 
settled  there,  and  Manawyddan  and  Pryderi  began  to 
make  saddles  and  housings,  and  Manawyddan  decorated 
them  with  blue  enamel  as  he  had  learned  from  a  great 
craftsman,  Llasar  Llaesgywydd.  After  a  time,  however, 
the  other  saddlers  of  Hereford,  finding  that  no  man 
would  purchase  any  but  the  work  of  Manawyddan,  con- 
spired to  kill  them.  And  Pryderi  would  have  fought 
with  them,  but  Manawyddan  held  it  better  to  with- 
draw elsewhere,  and  so  they  did. 

They  settled  then  in  another  city,  where  they  made 
shields  such  as  never  were  seen,  and  here,  too,  in  the 
end,  the  rival  craftsmen  drove  them  out.  And  this 
happened  also  in  another  town  where  they  made  shoes  ; 
and  at  last  they  resolved  to  go  back  to  Dyfed.  Then 
they  gathered  their  dogs  about  them  and  lived  by  hunt- 
ing as  before. 

One  day  they  started  a  wild  white  boar,  and  chased 
him  in  vain  until  he  led  them  up  to  a  vast  and  lofty 
castle,  all  newly  built  in  a  place  where  they  had  never 
seen  a  building  before.  The  boar  ran  into  the  castle, 
the  dogs  followed  him,  and  Pryderi,  against  the  counsel 
of  Manawyddan,  who  knew  there  was  magic  afoot,  went 
in  to  seek  for  the  dogs. 

He  found  in  the  centre  of  the  court  a  marble  fountain 
beside  which  stood  a  golden  bowl  on  a  marble  slab,  and 
being  struck  by  the  rich  workmanship  of  the  bowl,  he 
laid  hold  of  it  to  examine  it,  when  he  could  neither 
withdraw  his  hand  nor  utter  a  single  sound,  but  he 
remained  there,  transfixed  and  dumb,  beside  the 
fountain. 

Manawyddan  went  back  to  Narberth  and  told  the 
story  to  Rhiannon.  "  An  evil  companion  hast  thou 
been,"  said  she,  "  and  a  good  companion  hast  thou  lost." 
374 


THE  TALE  OF  PRYDERI  AND  MANAWYDDAN 

Next  day  she  went  herself  to  explore  the  castle.  She 
found  Pryderi  still  clinging  to  the  bowl  and  unable  to 
speak.  She  also,  then,  laid  hold  of  the  bowl,  when  the 
same  fate  befell  her,  and  immediately  afterwards  came 
a  peal  of  thunder,  and  a  heavy  mist  fell,  and  when  it 
cleared  off  the  castle  had  vanished  with  all  that  it  con- 
tained, including  the  two  spell-bound  wanderers. 

Manawyddan  then  went  back  to  Narberth,  where  only 
Kicva,  Pryderi's  wife,  now  remained.  And  when  she  saw 
none  but  herself  and  Manawyddan  in  the  place,  "  she 
sorrowed  so  that  she  cared  not  whether  she  lived  or  died." 
When  Manawyddan  saw  this  he  said  to  her,  "  Thou  art  in 
the  wrong  if  through  fear  of  me  thou  grievest  thus.  I 
declare  to  thee  were  I  in  the  dawn  of  youth  I  would 
keep  my  faith  unto  Pryderi,  and  unto  thee  also  will  I 
keep  it."  "  Heaven  reward  thee,"  she  said,  "and  that 
is  what  I  deemed  of  thee."  And  thereupon  she  took 
courage  and  was  glad. 

Kicva  and  Manawyddan  then  again  tried  to  support 
themselves  by  shoemaking  in  Lloegyr,  but  the  same 
hostility  drove  them  back  to  Dyfed.  This  time,  how- 
ever, Manawyddan  took  back  with  him  a  load  of  wheat, 
and  he  sowed  it,  and  he  prepared  three  crofts  for  a 
wheat  crop.  Thus  the  time  passed  till  the  fields  were 
ripe.  And  he  looked  at  one  of  the  crofts  and  said,  "  I 
will  reap  this  to-morrow."  But  on  the  morrow  when 
he  went  out  in  the  grey  dawn  he  found  nothing  there 
but  bare  straw — every  ear  had  been  cut  off  from  the 
stalk  and  carried  away. 

Next  day  it  was  the  same  with  the  second  croft.  But 
on  the  following  night  he  armed  himself  and  sat  up  to 
watch  the  third  croft  to  see  who  was  plundering  him. 
At  midnight,  as  he  watched,  he  heard  a  loud  noise,  and 
behold,  a  mighty  host  of  mice  came  pouring  into  the 
croft,  and  they  climbed  up  each  on  a  stalk  and  nibbled 

375 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

off  the  ears  and  made  away  with  them.  He  chased  them 
in  anger,  but  they  fled  far  faster  than  he  could  run,  all 
save  one  which  was  slower  in  its  movements,  and  this 
he  barely  managed  to  overtake,  and  he  bound  it  into 
his  glove  and  took  it  home  to  Narberth,  and  told  Kicva 
what  had  happened.  "To-morrow,"  he  said,  "I  will 
hang  the  robber  I  have  caught,"  but  Kicva  thought  it 
beneath  his  dignity  to  take  vengeance  on  a  mouse. 

Next  day  he  went  up  to  the  Mound  of  Narberth  and 
set  up  two  forks  for  a  gallows  on  the  highest  part  of 
the  hill.  As  he  was  doing  this  a  poor  scholar  came 
towards  him,  and  he  was  the  first  person  Manawyddan 
had  seen  in  Dyfed,  except  his  own  companions,  since 
the  enchantment  began. 

The  scholar  asked  him  what  he  was  about  and  begged 
him  to  let  go  the  mouse — "  111  doth  it  become  a  man 
of  thy  rank  to  touch  such  a  reptile  as  this."  "  I  will 
not  let  it  go,  by  Heaven,"  said  Manawyddan,  and  by 
that  he  abode,  although  the  scholar  offered  him  a  pound 
of  money  to  let  it  go  free.  "I  care  not,"  said  the 
scholar,  "except  that  I  would  not  see  a  man  of  rank 
touching  such  a  reptile,"  and  with  that  he  went  his  way. 

As  Manawyddan  was  placing  the  cross-beam  on  the 
two  forks  of  his  gallows,  a  priest  came  towards  him 
riding  on  a  horse  with  trappings,  and  the  same  conver- 
sation ensued.  The  priest  offered  three  pounds  for  the 
mouse's  life,  but  Manawyddan  refused  to  take  any  price 
for  it.  "Willingly,  lord,  do  thy  good  pleasure,"  said 
the  priest,  and  he,  too,  went  his  way. 

Then  Manawyddan  put  a  noose  about  the  mouse's 
neck  and  was  about  to  draw  it  up  when  he  saw  coming 
towards  him  a  bishop  with  a  great  retinue  of  sumpter- 
horses  and  attendants.  And  he  stayed  his  work  and 
asked  the  bishop's  blessing.  "Heaven's  blessing  be 
unto  thee,"  said  the  bishop  ;  "  what  work  art  thou 
376 


I  will  not  let  it  go  " 


376 


THE  TALE  OF  PRYDERI  AND  MANAWYDDAN 

upon?"  "Hanging  a  thief,"  replied  Manawyddan.  The 
bishop  offered  seven  pounds  "rather  than  see  a  man  of 
thy  rank  destroying  so  vile  a  reptile."  Manawyddan 
refused.  Four-and-twenty  pounds  was  then  offered, 
and  then  as  much  again,  then  all  the  bishop's  horses  and 
baggage — all  in  vain.  "  Since  for  this  thou  wilt  not," 
said  the  bishop,  "  do  it  at  whatever  price  thou  wilt." 
"  I  will  do  so,"  said  Manawyddan  ;  "  I  will  that  Rhiannon 
and  Pryderi  be  free."  "That  thou  shalt  have,"  said 
the  (pretended)  bishop.  Then  Manawyddan  demands 
that  the  enchantment  and  illusion  be  taken  off  for  ever 
from  the  seven  Cantrevs  of  Dyfed,  and  finally  insists 
that  the  bishop  shall  tell  him  who  the  mouse  is  and  why 
the  enchantment  was  laid  on  the  country.  "  I  am  Llwyd 
son  of  Kilcoed,"  replies  the  enchanter,  "and  the  mouse 
is  my  wife ;  but  that  she  is  pregnant  thou  hadst  never 
overtaken  her."  He  goes  on  with  an  explanation  which 
takes  us  back  to  the  first  CMabinogi  of  the  Wedding  of 
Rhiannon.  The  charm  was  cast  on  the  land  to  avenge 
the  ill  that  was  done  Llwyd's  friend,  Gwawl  son  of 
Clud,  with  whom  Pryderi's  father  and  his  knights  had 
played  "Badger  in  the  Bag"  at  the  court  of  Hevydd 
Hen.  The  mice  were  the  lords  and  ladies  of  Llwyd's 
court. 

The  enchanter  is  then  made  to  promise  that  no 
further  vengeance  shall  be  taken  on  Pryderi,  Rhiannon, 
or  Manawyddan,  and  the  two  spell-bound  captives 
having  been  restored,  the  mouse  is  released.  "  Then 
Llwyd  struck  her  with  a  magic  wand,  and  she  was 
changed  into  a  young  woman,  the  fairest  ever  seen." 
And  on  looking  round  Manawyddan  saw  all  the  land 
tilled  and  peopled  as  in  its  best  state,  and  full  of  herds 
and  dwellings.  "What  bondage,"  he  asks,  "has  there 
been  upon  Pryderi  and  Rhiannon?"  "Pryderi  has  had 
the  knockers  of  the  gate  of  my  palace  about  his  neck, 

377 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

and  Rhiannon  has  had  the  collars  of  the  asses  after  they 
have  been  carrying  hay  about  her  neck."  And  such 
had  been  their  bondage. 

The  Talc  of  Math  Son  of  Mathonwy 

The  previous  tale  was  one  of  magic  and  illusion  in 
which  the  mythological  element  is  but  faint.  In  that 
which  we  have  now  to  consider  we  are,  however,  in  a 
distinctly  mythological  region.  The  central  motive  of 
the  tale  shows  us  the  Powers  of  Light  contending  with 
those  of  the  Under-world  for  the  prized  possessions  of 
the  latter,  in  this  case  a  herd  ,of  magic  swine.  We  are 
introduced  in  the  beginning  of  the  story  to  the  deity, 
Math,  of  whom  the  bard  tells  us  that  he  was  unable  to 
exist  unless  his  feet  lay  in  the  lap  of  a  maiden,  except 
when  the  land  was  disturbed  by  war.1  Math  is  repre- 
sented as  lord  of  Gwynedd,  while  Pryderi  rules  over 
the  one-and-twenty  cantrevs  of  the  south.  With  Math 
were  his  nephews  Gwydion  and  Gilvaethwy  sons  of 
Don,  who  went  the  circuit  of  the  land  in  his  stead, 
while  Math  lay  with  his  feet  in  the  lap  of  the  fairest 
maiden  of  the  land  and  time,  Goewin  daughter  of  Pebin 
of  Dol  Pebin  in  Arvon. 

Gwydion  and  the  Swine  of  Pryderi 

Gilvaethwy  fell  sick  of  love  for  Goewin,  and  confided 
the  secret  to  his  brother  Gwydion,  who  undertook  to 
help  him  to  his  desire.  So  he  went  to  Math  one  day, 
and  asked  his  leave  to  go  to  Pryderi  and  beg  from  him 
the  gift,  for  Math,  of  a  herd  of  swine  which  had  been 
bestowed  on  him  by  Arawn  King  of  Annwn.  "  They 
are  beasts,"   he   said,  "  such  as   never  were  known   in 

1  This  is  a  distorted  reminiscence  of  the  practice  which  seems  to 
have  obtained  in   the  courts   of  Welsh  princes,   that  a  high  officer 
should  hold  the  king's  feet  in  his  lap  while  he  sat  at  meat. 
378 


PENANCE   OF   GWYDION  AND   GILVAETHWY 

this  island  before  .  .  .  their  flesh  is  better  than  the 
flesh  of  oxen."  Math  bade  him  go,  and  he  and 
Gilvaethwy  started  with  ten  companions  for  Dyfed. 
They  came  to  Pryderi's  palace  in  the  guise  of  bards, 
and  Gwydion,  after  being  entertained  at  a  feast,  was 
asked  to  tell  a  tale  to  the  court.  After  delighting 
every  one  with  his  discourse  he  begged  for  a  gift  of  the 
swine.  But  Pryderi  was  under  a  compact  with  his 
people  neither  to  sell  nor  give  them  until  they  had 
produced  double  their  number  in  the  land.  "Thou 
mayest  exchange  them,  though,"  said  Gwydion,  and 
thereupon  he  made  by  magic  arts  an  illusion  of  twelve 
horses  magnificently  caparisoned,  and  twelve  hounds, 
and  gave  them  to  Pryderi  and  made  off  with  the  swine 
as  fast  as  possible,  "  for,"  said  he  to  his  companions, 
"  the  illusion  will  not  last  but  from  one  hour  to  the 
same  to-morrow." 

The  intended  result  came  to  pass — Pryderi  invaded 
the  land  to  recover  his  swine,  Math  went  to  meet  him 
in  arms,  and  Gilvaethwy  seized  his  opportunity  and 
made  Goewin  his  wife,  although  she  was  unwilling. 

Death  of  Pryderi 

The  war  was  decided  by  a  single  combat  between 
Gwydion  and  Pryderi.  "  And  by  force  of  strength 
and  fierceness,  and  by  the  magic  and  charms  of 
Gwydion,  Pryderi  was  slain.  And  at  Maen  Tyriawc, 
above  Melenryd,  was  he  buried,  and  there  is  his 
grave." 

The  Penance  of  Gwydion  and  Gilvaethwy 

When  Math  came  back  he  found  what  Gilvaethwy 
had  done,  and  he  took  Goewin  to  be  his  queen,  but 
Gwydion  and  Gilvaethwy  went  into  outlawry,  and 
dwelt  on  the  borders  of  the  land.     At  last  they  came 

397 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

and  submitted  themselves  for  punishment  to  Math. 
"  Ye  cannot  compensate  me  my  shame,  setting  aside 
the  death  of  Pryderi,"  he  said,  "but  since  ye  come 
hither  to  be  at  my  will,  I  shall  begin  your  punishment 
forthwith."  So  he  turned  them  both  into  deer,  and 
bade  them  come  hither  again  in  a  twelvemonth. 

They  came  at  the  appointed  time,  bringing  with  them 
a  young  fawn.  And  the  fawn  was  brought  into  human 
shape  and  baptized,  and  Gwydion  and  Gilvaethwy  were 
changed  into  two  wild  swine.  At  the  next  year's  end 
they  came  back  with  a  young  one  who  was  treated  as 
the  fawn  before  him,  and  the  brothers  were  made  into 
wolves.  Another  year  passed  ;  they  came  back  again 
with  a  young  wolf  as  before,  and  this  time  their  penance 
was  deemed  complete,  and  their  human  nature  was 
restored  to  them,  and  Math  gave  orders  to  have  them 
washed  and  anointed,  and  nobly  clad  as  was  befitting. 

The  Children  of  Arianrod  :  Dylan 

The  question  then  arose  of  appointing  another 
virgin  foot-holder,  and  Gwydion  suggests  his  sister, 
Arianrod.  She  attends  for  the  purpose,  and  Math 
asks  her  if  she  is  a  virgin.  "  I  know  not,  lord,  other 
than  that  I  am,"  she  says.  But  she  failed  in  a  magical 
test  imposed  by  Math,  and  gave  birth  to  two  sons. 
One  of  these  was  named  Dylan,  "  Son  of  the  Wave," 
evidently  a  Cymric  sea-deity.  So  soon  as  he  was 
baptized  "  he  plunged  into  the  sea  and  swam  as  well 
as  the  best  fish  that  was  therein.  .  .  .  Beneath  him 
no  wave  ever  broke."  A  wild  sea-poetry  hangs  about 
his  name  in  Welsh  legend.  On  his  death,  which  took 
place,  it  is  said,  at  the  hand  of  his  uncle  Govannon,  all 
the  waves  of  Britain  and  Ireland  wept  for  him.  The 
roar  of  the  incoming  tide  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Conway  is  still  called  the  "  death-groan  of  Dylan." 


HOW  LLEW  GOT  HIS  NAME 

Llew  Llaw  Gyffes 

The  other  infant  was  seized  by  Gwydion  and  brought 
up  under  his  protection.  Like  other  solar  heroes,  he 
grew  very  rapidly  ;  when  he  was  four  he  was  as  big  as 
if  he  were  eight,  and  the  comeliest  youth  that  ever  was 
seen.  One  day  Gwydion  took  him  to  visit  his  mother 
Arianrod.  She  hated  the  children  who  had  exposed  her 
false  pretensions,  and  upbraided  Gwydion  for  bringing 
the  boy  into  her  sight.  "  What  is  his  name  ?  "  she  asked. 
"  Verily,"  said  Gwydion,  "  he  has  not  yet  a  name." 
"  Then  I  lay  this  destiny  upon  him,"  said  Arianrod, 
"  that  he  shall  never  have  a  name  till  one  is  given  him 
by  me."  On  this  Gwydion  went  forth  in  wrath,  and 
remained  in  his  castle  of  Caer  Dathyl  that  night. 

Though  the  fact  does  not  appear  in  this  tale,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  Gwydion  is,  in  the  older  mythology, 
the  father  of  Arianrod's  children. 

How  Llew  Got  his  Name 

He  was  resolved  to  have  a  name  for  his  son.  Next 
day  he  went  to  the  strand  below  Caer  Arianrod, 
bringing  the  boy  with  him.  Here  he  sat  down  by 
the  beach,  and  in  his  character  of  a  master  of  magic 
he  made  himself  look  like  a  shoemaker,  and  the  boy 
like  an  apprentice,  and  he  began  to  make  shoes  out  of 
sedges  and  seaweed,  to  which  he  gave  the  semblance 
of  Cordovan  leather.  Word  was  brought  to  Arianrod 
of  the  wonderful  shoes  that  were  being  made  by  a 
strange  cobbler,  and  she  sent  her  measure  for  a  pair. 
Gwydion  made  them  too  large.  She  sent  it  again,  and 
he  made  them  too  small.  Then  she  came  herself  to 
be  fitted.  While  this  was  going  on,  a  wren  came  and 
lit  on  the  boat's  mast,  and  the  boy,  taking  up  a  bow, 
shot  an  arrow  that  transfixed  the  leg  between  the  sinew 

381 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

and  the  bone.  Arianrod  admired  the  brilliant  shot. 
"Verily,"  she  said,  "with  a  steady  hand  {flaw  gyffes) 
did  the  lion  (Jlew)  hit  it."  "  No  thanks  to  thee,"  cried 
Gwydion,  "  now  he  has  got  a  name.  Llew  Llaw 
Gyffes  shall  he  be  called  henceforward." 

We  have  seen  that  the  name  really  means  the  same 
thing  as  the  Gaelic  Lugh  Lamfada,  Lugh  (Light)  of  the 
Long  Arm  ;  so  that  we  have  here  an  instance  of  a  legend 
growing  up  round  a  misunderstood  name  inherited  from 
a  half-forgotten  mythology. 

How  Llew  Took  Arms 

The  shoes  went  back  immediately  to  sedges  and  sea- 
weed again,  and  Arianrod,  angry  at  being  tricked,  laid 
a  new  curse  on  the  boy.  "  He  shall  never  bear  arms 
till  I  invest  him  with  them."  But  Gwydion,  going  to 
Caer  Arianrod  with  the  boy  in  the  semblance  of  two 
bards,  makes  by  magic  art  the  illusion  of  a  foray  of 
armed  men  round  the  castle.  Arianrod  gives  them 
weapons  to  help  in  the  defence,  and  thus  again  finds 
herself  tricked  by  the  superior  craft  of  Gwydion. 

The  Flower-Wife  of  Llew 

Next  she  said,  "  He  shall  never  have  a  wife  of  the 

race  that  now  inhabits  this  earth."  This  raised  a  difficulty 

beyond  the  powers  of  even  Gwydion,  and  he  went  to 

Math,  the  supreme   master  of  magic.     "  Well,"   said 

Math,  "  we  will  seek,  I  and  thou,  to  form  a  wife  for 

him  out  of  flowers."     "  So  they  took  the  blossoms  of 

the  oak,   and    the   blossoms    of  the    broom,  and    the 

blossoms   of  the   meadow-sweet,  and    produced   from 

them  a  maiden,  the  fairest  and  most  graceful  that  man 

ever  saw.     And  they  baptized  her,  and  gave  her  the 

name  of  Blodeuwedd,  or  Flower-face."     They  wedded 

her  to  Llew,  and  gave  them  the  cantrev  of  Dinodig  to 
382 


BETRAYAL  OF  LLEW 

reign  over,  and  there  Llew  and  his  bride  dwelt  for  a 
season,  happy,  and  beloved  by  all. 

Betrayal  of  Llew 

But  Blodeuwedd  was  not  worthy  of  her  beautiful 
name  and  origin.  One  day  when  Llew  was  away  on  a 
visit  with  Math,  a  lord  named  Gronw  Pebyr  came 
a-hunting  by  the  palace  of  Llew,  and  Blodeuwedd 
loved  him  from  the  moment  she  looked  upon  him. 
That  night  they  slept  together,  and  the  next,  and  the 
next,  and  then  they  planned  how  to  be  rid  of  Llew  for 
ever.  But  Llew,  like  the  Gothic  solar  hero  Siegfried, 
is  invulnerable  except  under  special  circumstances,  and 
Blodeuwedd  has  to  learn  from  him  how  he  may  be 
slain.  This  she  does  under  pretence  of  care  for  his 
welfare.  The  problem  is  a  hard  one.  Llew  can  only 
be  killed  by  a  spear  which  has  been  a  year  in  making, 
and  has  only  been  worked  on  during  the  Sacrifice  of 
the  Host  on  Sundays.  Furthermore,  he  cannot  be 
slain  within  a  house  or  without,  on  horseback  or  on 
foot.  The  only  way,  in  fact,  is  that  he  should  stand 
with  one  foot  on  a  dead  buck  and  the  other  in  a 
cauldron,  which  is  to  be  used  for  a  bath  and  thatched 
with  a  roof — if  he  is  wounded  while  in  this  position 
with  a  spear  made  as  directed  the  wound  may  be  fatal, 
not  otherwise.  After  a  year,  during  which  Gronw 
wrought  at  the  spear,  Blodeuwedd  begged  Llew  to 
show  her  more  fully  what  she  must  guard  against,  and 
he  took  up  the  required  position  to  please  her.  Gronw, 
lurking  in  a  wood  hard  by,  hurled  the  deadly  spear, 
and  the  head,  which  was  poisoned,  sank  into  Llew's 
body,  but  the  shaft  broke  off.  Then  Llew  changed 
into  an  eagle,  and  with  a  loud  scream  he  soared  up  into 
the  air  and  was  no  more  seen,  and  Gronw  took  his 
castle  and  lands  and  added  them  to  his  own. 

383 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

These  tidings  at  last  reached  Gwydion  and  Math, 
and  Gwydion  set  out  to  find  Llew.  He  came  to  the 
house  of  a  vassal  of  his,  from  whom  he  learned  that  a 
sow  that  he  had  disappeared  every  day  and  could  not 
be  traced,  but  it  came  home  duly  each  night.  Gwydion 
followed  the  sow,  and  it  went  far  away  to  the  brook 
since  called  Nant  y  Llew,  where  it  stopped  under  a  tree 
and  began  feeding.  Gwydion  looked  to  see  what  it 
ate,  and  found  that  it  fed  on  putrid  flesh  that  dropped 
from  an  eagle  sitting  aloft  on  the  tree,  and  it  seemed 
to  him  that  the  eagle  was  Llew.  Gwydion  sang  to  it, 
and  brought  it  gradually  down  the  tree  till  it  came  to 
his  knee,  when  he  struck  it  with  his  magic  wand  and 
restored  it  to  the  shape  of  Llew,  but  worn  to  skin  and 
bone — "  no  one  ever  saw  a  more  piteous  sight." 

The  Healing  of  Llew 

When  Llew  was  healed,  he  and  Gwydion  took  ven- 
geance on  their  foes.  Blodeuwedd  was  changed  into 
an  owl  and  bidden  to  shun  the  light  of  day,  and  Gronw 
was  slain  by  a  cast  of  the  spear  of  Llew  that  passed 
through  a  slab  of  stone  to  reach  him,  and  the  slab  with 
the  hole  through  it  made  by  the  spear  of  Llew  remains 
by  the  bank  of  the  river  Cynvael  in  Ardudwy  to  this 
day.  And  Llew  took  possession,  for  the  second  time, 
of  his  lands,  and  ruled  them  prosperously  all  his  days. 

The  four  preceding  tales  are  called  the  Four 
Branches  of  the  Mabinogi,  and  of  the  collection  called 
the  "  Mabinogion  "  they  form  the  most  ancient  and 
important  part. 

The  Dream  of  Maxen  Wledig 

Following  the  order  of  the  tales  in  the  "  Mabin- 
ogion," as  presented  in  Mr.  Nutt's  edition,  we  come 
next  to  one  which  is  a  pure  work  of  invention,  with  no 
3H 


THE  STORY  OF  LLUDD  AND  LLEVELYS 

mythical  or  legendary  element  at  all.  It  recounts  how 
Maxen  Wledig,  Emperor  of  Rome,  had  a  vivid  dream, 
in  which  he  was  led  into  a  strange  country,  where  he 
saw  a  king  in  an  ivory  chair  carving  chessmen  with  a 
steel  file  from  a  rod  of  gold.  By  him,  on  a  golden 
throne,  was  the  fairest  of  maidens  he  had  ever  beheld. 
Waking,  he  found  himself  in  love  with  the  dream- 
maiden,  and  sent  messengers  far  and  wide  to  discover, 
if  they  could,  the  country  and  people  that  had  appeared 
to  him.  They  were  found  in  Britain.  Thither  went 
Maxen,  and  wooed  and  wedded  the  maiden.  In  his 
absence  a  usurper  laid  hold  of  his  empire  in  Rome,  but 
with  the  aid  of  his  British  friends  he  reconquered  his 
dominions,  and  many  of  them  settled  there  with  him, 
while  others  went  home  to  Britain.  The  latter  took 
with  them  foreign  wives,  but,  it  is  said,  cut  out  their 
tongues,  lest  they  should  corrupt  the  speech  of  the 
Britons.  Thus  early  and  thus  powerful  was  the  devo- 
tion to  their  tongue  of  the  Cymry,  of  whom  the  mythical 
bard  Taliesin  prophesied : 

"  Their  God  they  will  praise, 
Their  speech  they  will  keep, 
Their  land  they  will  lose, 
Except  wild  Walia." 

The  Story  of  Lludd  and  Llevelys 

This  tale  is  associated  with  the  former  one  in  the 
section  entitled  Romantic  British  History.  It  tells  how 
Lludd  son  of  Beli,  and  his  brother  Llevelys,  ruled 
respectively  over  Britain  and  France,  and  how  Lludd 
sought  his  brother's  aid  to  stay  the  three  plagues  that 
were  harassing  the  land.  These  three  plagues  were, 
first,  the  presence  of  a  demoniac  race  called  the 
Coranians  ;  secondly,  a  fearful  scream  that  was  heard 
in    every    home    in    Britain    on    every    May-eve,    and 

2  B  385 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

scared  the  people  out  of  their  senses  ;  thirdly,  the 
unaccountable  disappearance  of  all  provisions  in  the 
king's  court  every  night,  so  that  nothing  that  was 
not  consumed  by  the  household  could  be  found  the 
next  morning.  Lludd  and  Llevelys  talked  over  these 
matters  through  a  brazen  tube,  for  the  Coranians  could 
hear  everything  that  was  said  if  once  the  winds  got 
hold  of  it — a  property  also  attributed  to  Math,  son  of 
Mathonwy.  Llevelys  destroyed  the  Coranians  by  giving 
to  Lludd  a  quantity  of  poisonous  insects  which  were 
to  be  bruised  up  and  scattered  over  the  people  at  an 
assembly.  These  insects  would  slay  the  Coranians, 
but  the  people  of  Britain  would  be  immune  to  them. 
The  scream  Llevelys  explained  as  proceeding  from 
two  dragons,  which  fought  each  other  once  a  year. 
They  were  to  be  slain  by  being  intoxicated  with  mead, 
which  was  to  be  placed  in  a  pit  dug  in  the  very  centre 
of  Britain,  which  was  found  on  measurement  to  be  at 
Oxford.  The  provisions,  said  Llevelys,  were  taken 
away  by  a  giant  wizard,  for  whom  Lludd  watched  as 
directed,  and  overcame  him  in  combat,  and  made  him 
his  faithful  vassal  thenceforward.  Thus  Lludd  and 
Llevelys  freed  the  island  from  its  three  plagues. 

Tales  of  Arthur 

We  next  come  to  five  Arthurian  tales,  one  of  which, 
the  tale  of  Kilhwch  and  Olwen,  is  the  only  native 
Arthurian  legend  which  has  come  down  to  us  in 
Welsh  literature.  The  rest,  as  we  have  seen,  are  more 
or  less  reflections  from  the  Arthurian  literature  as 
developed  by  foreign  hands  on  the  Continent. 

Kilhwch  and  Olwen 

Kilhwch  was  son  to  Kilydd  and  his  wife  Goleuddydd, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  cousin  to  Arthur.  His  mother 
386 


KILHWCH  AT  ARTHUR'S  COURT 

having  died,  Kilydd  took  another  wife,  and  she,  jealous 
of  her  stepson,  laid  on  him  a  quest  which  promised  to 
be  long  and  dangerous.  "  I  declare,"  she  said, "  that  it  is 
thy  destiny  " — the  Gael  would  have  said  gets — "  not  to 
be  suited  with  a  wife  till  thou  obtain  Olwen  daughter  of 
Yspaddaden  Penkawr."1  And  Kilhwch  reddened  at  the 
name,  and  "  love  of  the  maiden  diffused  itself  through 
all  his  frame."  By  his  father's  advice  he  set  out  to 
Arthur's  Court  to  learn  how  and  where  he  might  find 
and  woo  her. 

A  brilliant  passage  then  describes  the  youth  in  the 
flower  of  his  beauty,  on  a  noble  steed  caparisoned  with 
gold,  and  accompanied  by  two  brindled  white-breasted 
greyhounds  with  collars  of  rubies,  setting  forth  on  his 
journey  to  King  Arthur.  "And  the  blade  of  grass  bent 
not  beneath  him,  so  light  was  his  courser's  tread." 

Kilhwch  at  Arthur's  Court 

After  some  difficulties  with  the  Porter  and  with 
Arthur's  seneschal,  Kai,  who  did  not  wish  to  admit 
the  lad  while  the  company  were  sitting  at  meat,  Kilhwch 
was  brought  into  the  presence  of  the  King,  and  declared 
his  name  and  his  desire.  "  I  seek  this  boon,"  he  said, 
"from  thee  and  likewise  at  the  hands  of  thy  warriors," 
and  he  then  enumerates  an  immense  list  full  of  mytho- 
logical personages  and  details — Bedwyr,  Gwyn  ap  Nudd, 
Kai,  Manawyddan,2  Geraint,  and  many  others,  including 
"  Morvran  son  of  Tegid,  whom  no  one  struck  at  in  the 
battle  of  Camlan  by  reason  of  his  ugliness  ;  all  thought 
he  was  a  devil,"  and  "  Sandde  Bryd  Angel,  whom  no  one 
touched  with  a  spear  in  the  battle  of  Camlan  because  of 
his  beauty  ;  all  thought  he  was  a  ministering  angel." 

1  "  Hawthorn,  King  of  the  Giants." 

2  The  gods  of  the  family  of  Dun  are  thus  conceived  as  servitors  to 
Arthur,  who  in  this  story  is  evidently  the  god  Artaius. 

387 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  list  extends  to  many  scores  of  names  and  in- 
cludes many  women,  as,  for  instance,  "Creiddylad 
the  daughter  of  Lludd  of  the  Silver  Hand — she  was 
the  most  splendid  maiden  in  the  three  Islands  of  the 
Mighty,  and  for  her  Gwythyr  the  son  of  Greidawl  and 
Gwyn  the  son  of  Nudd  fight  every  first  of  May  till 
doom,"  and  the  two  Iseults  and  Arthur's  Queen, 
Gwenhwyvar.  "All  these  did  Kilydd's  son  Kilhwch 
adjure  to  obtain  his  boon." 

Arthur,  however,  had  never  heard  of  Olwen  nor  of 
her  kindred.  He  promised  to  seek  for  her,  but  at  the 
end  of  a  year  no  tidings  of  her  could  be  found,  and 
Kilhwch  declared  that  he  would  depart  and  leave  Arthur 
shamed.  Kai  and  Bedwyr,  with  the  guide  Kynddelig, 
are  at  last  bidden  to  go  forth  on  the  quest. 

Servitors  of  Arthur 

These  personages  are  very  different  from  those  who 
are  called  by  the  same  names  in  Malory  or  Tennyson. 
Kai,  it  is  said,  could  go  nine  days  under  water.  He 
could  render  himself  at  will  as  tall  as  a  forest  tree.  So 
hot  was  his  physical  constitution  that  nothing  he  bore 
in  his  hand  could  get  wetted  in  the  heaviest  rain. 
"Very  subtle  was  Kai."  As  for  Bedwyr — the  later  Sir 
Bedivere — we  are  told  that  none  equalled  him  in  swift- 
ness, and  that,  though  one-armed,  he  was  a  match  for  any 
three  warriors  on  the  field  of  battle ;  his  lance  made  a 
wound  equal  to  those  of  nine.  Besides  these  three  there 
went  also  on  the  quest  Gwrhyr,  who  knew  all  tongues, 
and  Gwalchmai  son  of  Arthur's  sister  Gwyar,  and  Menw, 
who  could  make  the  party  invisible  by  magic  spells. 

Custennin 

The  party  journeyed  till  at  last  they  came  to  a  great 
castle  before  which  was  a  flock  of  sheep  kept  by  a 
388 


OLWEN  OF  THE  WHITE  TRACK 

shepherd  who  had  by  him  a  mastiff  big  as  a  horse. 
The  breath  of  this  shepherd,  we  are  told,  could  burn 
up  a  tree.  "  He  let  no  occasion  pass  without  doing 
some  hurt  or  harm."  However,  he  received  the  party- 
well,  told  them  that  he  was  Custennin,  brother  of 
Yspaddaden  whose  castle  stood  before  them,  and 
brought  them  home  to  his  wife.  The  wife  turned  out 
to  be  a  sister  of  Kilhwch's  mother  Goleuddydd,  and  she 
was  rejoiced  at  seeing  her  nephew,  but  sorrowful  at  the 
thought  that  he  had  come  in  search  of  Olwen,  "  for 
none  ever  returned  from  that  quest  alive."  Custennin 
and  his  family,  it  appears,  have  suffered  much  at  the 
hands  of  Yspaddaden — all  their  sons  but  one  being 
slain,  because  Yspaddaden  envied  his  brother  his  share 
of  their  patrimony.  So  they  associated  themselves 
with  the  heroes  in  their  quest. 

Olwen  of  the  White  Track 

Next  day  Olwen  came  down  to  the  herdsman's  house 
as  usual,  for  she  was  wont  to  wash  her  hair  there  every 
Saturday,  and  each  time  she  did  so  she  left  all  her 
rings  in  the  vessel  and  never  sent  for  them  again.  She 
is  described  in  one  of  those  pictorial  passages  in  which 
the  Celtic  passion  for  beauty  has  found  such  exquisite 
utterance. 

"The  maiden  was  clothed  in  a  robe  of  flame-coloured 
silk,  and  about  her  neck  was  a  collar  of  ruddy  gold  on 
which  were  precious  emeralds  and  rubies.  More  yellow 
was  her  head  than  the  flower  of  the  broom,  and  her 
skin  was  whiter  than  the  foam  of  the  wave,  and  fairer 
were  her  hands  and  her  fingers  than  the  blossoms  of 
the  wood-anemone  amidst  the  spray  of  the  meadow 
fountain.  The  eye  of  the  trained  hawk,  the  glance  of 
the   three-mewed  falcon,  was  not  brighter  than  hers. 

389 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Her  bosom  was  more  snowy  than  the  breast  of  the 
white  swan,  her  cheek  was  redder  than  the  reddest 
roses.  Whoso  beheld  her  was  filled  with  her  love. 
Four  white  trefoils  sprang  up  wherever  she  trod.  And 
therefore  was  she  called  Olwen."1 

Kilhwch  and  she  conversed  together  and  loved  each 
other,  and  she  bade  him  go  and  ask  her  of  her  father 
and  deny  him  nothing  that  he  might  demand.  She  had 
pledged  her  faith  not  to  wed  without  his  will,  for  his 
life  would  only  last  till  the  time  of  her  espousals. 

Yspaddaden 

Next  day  the  party  went  to  the  castle  and  saw 
Yspaddaden.  He  put  them  off  with  various  excuses,  and 
as  they  left  flung  after  them  a  poisoned  dart.  Bedwyr 
caught  it  and  flung  it  back,  wounding  him  in  the  knee, 
and  Yspaddaden  cursed  him  in  language  of  extraordi- 
nary vigour  ;  the  words  seem  to  crackle  and  spit  like 
flame.  Thrice  over  this  happened,  and  at  last  Yspaddaden 
declared  what  must  be  done  to  win  Olwen. 

The  Tasks  of  Kilhwch 

A  long  series  of  tasks  follows.  A  vast  hill  is  to  be 
ploughed,  sown,  and  reaped  in  one  day  ;  only  Amathaon 
son  of  Don  can  do  it,  and  he  will  not.  Govannon,  the 
smith,  is  to  rid  the  ploughshare  at  each  headland,  and 
he  will  not  do  it.  The  two  dun  oxen  of  Gwlwlyd  are 
to  draw  the  plough,  and  he  will  not  lend  them.  Honey 
nine  times  sweeter  than  that  of  the  bee  must  be  got  to 
make  bragget  for  the  wedding  feast.  A  magic  cauldron, 
a  magic  basket  out  of  which  comes  any  meat  that  a  man 
desires,  a  magic  horn,  the  sword  of  Gwrnach  the  Giant 

1  "  She  of  the  White  Track."    Compare  the  description  of  Etain, 
pp.  157,  158. 
390 


THE  TASKS  OF  KILHWCH 

— all  these  must  be  won  ;  and  many  other  secret  and 
difficult  things,  some  forty  in  all,  before  Kilhwch  can 
call  Olwen  his  own.  The  most  difficult  quest  is  that  of 
obtaining  the  comb  and  scissors  that  are  between  the 
two  ears  of  Twrch  Trwyth,  a  king  transformed  into  a 
monstrous  boar.  To  hunt  the  boar  a  number  of  other 
quests  must  be  accomplished — the  whelp  of  Greid  son 
of  Eri  is  to  be  won,  and  a  certain  leash  to  hold  him, 
and  a  certain  collar  for  the  leash,  and  a  chain  for  the 
collar,  and  Mabon  son  of  Modron  for  the  huntsman 
and  the  horse  of  Gweddw  to  carry  Mabon,  and  Gwyn 
son  of  Nudd  to  help,  "whom  God  placed  over  the 
brood  of  devils  in  Annwn  ...  he  will  never  be  spared 
them,"  and  so  forth  to  an  extent  which  makes  the  famous 
eric  of  the  sons  of  Turenn  seem  trifling  by  comparison. 
"  Difficulties  shalt  thou  meet  with,  and  nights  without 
sleep,  in  seeking  this  [bride  price],  and  if  thou  obtain  it 
not,  neither  shalt  thou  have  my  daughter."  Kilhwch 
has  one  answer  for  every  demand  :  "  It  will  be  easy  for 
me  to  accomplish  this,  although  thou  mayest  think  that 
it  will  not  be  easy.  And  I  shall  gain  thy  daughter  and 
thou  shalt  lose  thy  life." 

So  they  depart  on  their  way  to  fulfil  the  tasks,  and 
on  their  way  home  they  fall  in  with  Gwrnach  the  Giant, 
whose  sword  Kai,  pretending  to  be  a  sword-polisher, 
obtains  by  a  stratagem.  On  reaching  Arthur's  Court 
again,  and  telling  the  King  what  they  have  to  do,  he 
promises  his  aid.  First  of  the  marvels  they  accom- 
plished was  the  discovery  and  liberation  of  Mabon  son 
of  Modron,  "who  was  taken  from  his  mother  when 
three  nights  old,  and  it  is  not  known  where  he  is  now, 
nor  whether  he  is  living  or  dead."  Gwrhyr  inquires  of 
him  from  the  Ousel  of  Cilgwri,  who  is  so  old  that  a 
smith's  anvil  on  which  he  was  wont  to  peck  has  been 
worn  to  the  size  of  a  nut,  yet  he  has  never  heard  of 

391 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Mabon.  But  he  takes  them  to  a  beast  older  still,  the 
Stag  of  Redynvre,  and  so  on  to  the  Owl  of  Cwm  Cawlwyd, 
and  the  Eagle  of  Gwern  Abwy,  and  the  Salmon  of  Llyn 
Llyw,  the  oldest  of  living  things,  and  at  last  they  find 
Mabon  imprisoned  in  the  stone  dungeon  of  Gloucester, 
and  with  Arthur's  help  they  release  him,  and  so  the 
second  task  is  fulfilled.  In  one  way  or  another,  by 
stratagem,  or  valour,  or  magic  art,  every  achievement 
is  accomplished,  including  the  last  and  most  perilous 
one,  that  of  obtaining  "  the  blood  of  the  black  witch 
Orddu,  daughter  of  the  white  witch  Orwen,  of  Penn 
Nart  Govid  on  the  confines  of  Hell."  The  combat 
here  is  very  like  that  of  Finn  in  the  cave  of  Keshcorran, 
but  Arthur  at  last  cleaves  the  hag  in  twain,  and  Kaw  of 
North  Britain  takes  her  blood. 

So  then  they  set  forth  for  the  castle  of  Yspaddaden 
again,  and  he  acknowledges  defeat.  Goreu  son  of 
Custennin  cuts  off  his  head,  and  that  night  Olwen 
became  the  happy  bride  of  Kilhwch,  and  the  hosts  of 
Arthur  dispersed,  every  man  to  his  own  land. 

The  Dream  of  Rhonabwy 

Rhonabwy  was  a  man-at-arms  under  Madawc  son  of 
Maredudd,  whose  brother  Iorwerth  rose  in  rebellion 
against  him  ;  and  Rhonabwy  went  with  the  troops  of 
Madawc  to  put  him  down.  Going  with  a  few  com- 
panions into  a  mean  hut  to  rest  for  the  night,  he  lies 
down  to  sleep  on  a  yellow  calf-skin  by  the  fire,  while 
his  friends  lie  on  filthy  couches  of  straw  and  twigs.  On 
the  calf-skin  he  has  a  wonderful  dream.  He  sees  before 
him  the  court  and  camp  of  Arthur — here  the  quasi- 
historical  king,  neither  the  legendary  deity  of  the  former 
tale  nor  the  Arthur  of  the  French  chivalrous  romances 
— as  he  moves  towards  Mount  Badon  for  his  great 
battle  with  the  heathen.  A  character  named  Iddawc  is 
392 


THE  DREAM  OF  RHONABWY 

his  guide  to  the  King,  who  smiles  at  Rhonabwy  and 
his  friends,  and  asks  :  "Where,  Iddawc,  didst  thou  find 
these  little  men  ?"  "I  found  them,  lord,  up  yonder 
on  the  road."  "It  pitieth  me,"  said  Arthur,  "that 
men  of  such  stature  as  these  should  have  the  island  in 
their  keeping,  after  the  men  that  guarded  it  of  yore." 
Rhonabwy  has  his  attention  directed  to  a  stone  in  the 
King's  ring.  "  It  is  one  of  the  properties  of  that  stone 
to  enable  thee  to  remember  that  which  thou  seest  here 
to-night,  and  hadst  thou  not  seen  the  stone,  thou 
wouldst  never  have  been  able  to  remember  aught 
thereof." 

The  different  heroes  and  companions  that  compose 
Arthur's  army  are  minutely  described,  with  all  the 
brilliant  colour  and  delicate  detail  so  beloved  by  the 
Celtic  fabulist.  The  chief  incident  narrated  is  a  game 
of  chess  that  takes  place  between  Arthur  and  the  knight 
Owain  son  of  Urien.  While  the  game  goes  on,  first 
the  knights  of  Arthur  harry  and  disturb  the  Ravens  of 
Owain,  but  Arthur,  when  Owain  complains,  only  says : 
"  Play  thy  game."  Afterwards  the  Ravens  have  the 
better  of  it,  and  it  is  Owain's  turn  to  bid  Arthur  attend 
to  his  game.  Then  Arthur  took  the  golden  chessmen 
and  crushed  them  to  dust  in  his  hand,  and  besought 
Owain  to  quiet  his  Ravens,  which  was  done,  and  peace 
reigned  again.  Rhonabwy,  it  is  said,  slept  three  days 
and  nights  on  the  calf-skin  before  awaking  from  his 
wondrous  dream.  An  epilogue  declares  that  no  bard 
is  expected  to  know  this  tale  by  heart  and  without  a 
book,  "  because  of  the  various  colours  that  were  upon 
the  horses,  and  the  many  wondrous  colours  of  the  arms 
and  of  the  panoply,  and  of  the  precious  scarfs,  and  of 
the  virtue-bearing  stones."  The  "  Dream  of  Rhon- 
abwy "  is  rather  a  gorgeous  vision  of  the  past  than  a 
story  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word. 

393 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

The  Lady  of  the  Fountain 

We  have  here  a  Welsh  reproduction  of  the  Conte 
entitled  "  Le  Chevalier  au  lion "  of  Chrestien  de 
Troyes.  The  principal  personage  in  the  tale  is  Owain 
son  of  Urien,  who  appears  in  a  character  as  foreign  to 
the  spirit  of  Celtic  legend  as  it  was  familiar  on  the 
Continent,  that  of  knight-errant. 

The  Adventure  of  Kymon 

We  are  told  in  the  introduction  that  Kymon,  a 
knight  of  Arthur's  Court,  had  a  strange  and  un- 
fortunate adventure.  Riding  forth  in  search  of  some 
deed  of  chivalry  to  do,  he  came  to  a  splendid  castle, 
where  he  was  hospitably  received  by  four-and-twenty 
damsels,  of  whom  "  the  least  lovely  was  more  lovely 
than  Gwenhwyvar,  the  wife  of  Arthur,  when  she  has 
appeared  loveliest  at  the  Offering  on  the  Day  of  the 
Nativity,  or  at  the  feast  of  Easter."  With  them  was 
a  noble  lord,  who,  after  Kymon  had  eaten,  asked  of 
his  business.  Kymon  explained  that  he  was  seeking 
for  his  match  in  combat.  The  lord  of  the  castle  smiled, 
and  bade  him  proceed  as  follows  :  He  should  take  the 
road  up  the  valley  and  through  a  forest  till  he  came  to 
a  glade  with  a  mound  in  the  midst  of  it.  On  the 
mound  he  would  see  a  black  man  of  huge  stature  with 
one  foot  and  one  eye,  bearing  a  mighty  iron  club. 
He  was  wood-ward  of  that  forest,  and  would  have 
thousands  of  wild  animals,  stags,  serpents,  and  what 
not,  feeding  around  him.  He  would  show  Kymon 
what  he  was  in  quest  of. 

Kymon  followed  the  instructions,  and  the  black  man 
directed  him  to  where  he  should  find  a  fountain  under 
a  great  tree  ;  by  the  side  of  it  would  be  a  silver  bowl 
on  a  slab  of  marble.  Kymon  was  to  take  the  bowl  and 
394 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  WELSH  ROMANCE 

throw  a  bowlful  of  water  on  the  slab,  when  a  terrific 
storm  of  hail  and  thunder  would  follow — then  there 
would  break  forth  an  enchanting  music  of  singing  birds 
— then  would  appear  a  knight  in  black  armour  riding 
on  a  coal-black  horse,  with  a  black  pennon  upon  his 
lance.  "  And  if  thou  dost  not  find  trouble  in  that 
adventure,  thou  needst  not  seek  it  during  the  rest  of 
thy  life." 

The  Character  of  Welsh  Romance 

Here  let  us  pause  for  a  moment  to  point  out  how 
clearly  we  are  in  the  region  of  mediaeval  romance,  and 
how  far  from  that  of  Celtic  mythology.  Perhaps  the 
Celtic  "  Land  of  Youth  "  may  have  remotely  suggested 
those  regions  of  beauty  and  mystery  into  which  the 
Arthurian  knight  rides  in  quest  of  adventure.  But 
the  scenery,  the  motives,  the  incidents,  are  altogether 
different.  And  how  beautiful  they  are — how  steeped 
in  the  magic  light  of  romance  !  The  colours  live  and 
glow,  the  forest  murmurs  in  our  ears,  the  breath  of 
that  springtime  of  our  modern  world  is  about  us,  as 
we  follow  the  lonely  knight  down  the  grassy  track  into 
an  unknown  world  of  peril  and  delight.  While  in 
some  respects  the  Continental  tales  are  greater  than  the 
Welsh,  more  thoughtful,  more  profound,  they  do  not 
approach  them  in  the  exquisite  artistry  with  which  the 
exterior  aspect  of  things  is  rendered,  the  atmosphere 
of  enchantment  maintained,  and  the  reader  led,  with 
ever-quickening  interest,  from  point  to  point  in  the 
development  of  the  tale.  Nor  are  these  Welsh  tales 
a  whit  behind  in  the  noble  and  chivalrous  spirit 
which  breathes  through  them.  A  finer  school  of 
character  and  of  manners  could  hardly  be  found  in 
literature.  How  strange  that  for  many  centuries  this 
treasure  beyond  all  price  should  have  lain  unnoticed  in 

39S 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

our  midst  !  And  how  deep  must  be  our  gratitude 
to  the  nameless  bards  whose  thought  created  it,  and  to 
the  nobly  inspired  hand  which  first  made  it  a  possession 
for  all  the  English-speaking  world  ! 

Defeat  of  Kymon 

But  to  resume  our  story.  Kymon  did  as  he  was 
bidden,  the  Black  Knight  appeared,  silently  they  set 
lance  in  rest  and  charged.  Kymon  was  flung  to  earth, 
while  his  enemy,  not  bestowing  one  glance  upon  him, 
passed  the  shaft  of  his  lance  through  the  rein  of  Kymon's 
horse  and  rode  of?  with  it  in  the  direction  whence  he 
had  come.  Kymon  went  back  afoot  to  the  castle,  where 
none  asked  him  how  he  had  sped,  but  they  gave  him  a 
new  horse,  "a  dark  bay  palfrey  with  nostrils  as  red  as 
scarlet,"  on  which  he  rode  home  to  Caerleon. 

Owain  and  the  Black  Knight 

Owain  was,  of  course,  fired  by  the  tale  of  Kymon,  and 
next  morning  at  the  dawn  of  day  he  rode  forth  to  seek 
for  the  same  adventure.  All  passed  as  it  had  done  in 
Kymon's  case,  but  Owain  wounded  the  Black  Knight  so 
sorely  that  he  turned  his  horse  and  fled,  Owain  pursuing 
him  hotly.  They  came  to  a  "vast  and  resplendent 
castle."  Across  the  drawbridge  they  rode,  the  outer 
portcullis  of  which  fell  as  the  Black  Knight  passed  it. 
But  so  close  at  his  heels  was  Owain  that  the  portcullis 
fell  behind  him,  cutting  his  horse  in  two  behind  the 
saddle,  and  he  himself  remained  imprisoned  between 
the  outer  gate  of  the  drawbridge  and  the  inner.  While 
he  was  in  this  predicament  a  maiden  came  to  him  and 
gave  him  a  ring.  When  he  wore  it  with  the  stone 
reversed  and  clenched  in  his  hand  he  would  become 
invisible,  and  when  the  servants  of  the  lord  of  the  castle 
came  for  him  he  was  to  elude  them  and  follow  her. 
396 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  OWAIN 

This  she  did  knowing  apparently  who  he  was,  "  for  as 
a  friend  thou  art  the  most  sincere,  and  as  a  lover  the 
most  devoted." 

Owain  did  as  he  was  bidden,  and  the  maiden  concealed 
him.  In  that  night  a  great  lamentation  was  heard  in 
the  castle — its  lord  had  died  of  the  wound  which  Owain 
had  given  him.  Soon  afterwards  Owain  got  sight  of  the 
mistress  of  the  castle,  and  love  of  her  took  entire 
possession  of  him.  Luned,  the  maiden  who  had  rescued 
him,  wooed  her  for  him,  and  he  became  her  husband, 
and  lord  of  the  Castle  of  the  Fountain  and  all  the 
dominions  of  the  Black  Knight.  And  he  then  defended 
the  fountain  with  lance  and  sword  as  his  forerunner 
had  done,  and  made  his  defeated  antagonists  ransom 
themselves  for  great  sums,  which  he  bestowed  among 
his  barons  and  knights.  Thus  he  abode  for  three 
years. 

The  Search  for  Owain 

After  this  time  Arthur,  with  his  nephew  Gwalchmai 
and  with  Kymon  for  guide,  rode  forth  at  the  head  of  a 
host  to  search  for  tidings  of  Owain.  They  came  to  the 
fountain,  and  here  they  met  Owain,  neither  knowing  the 
other  as  their  helms  were  down.  And  first  Kai  was 
overthrown,  and  then  Gwalchmai  and  Owain  fought, 
and  after  a  while  Gwalchmai  was  unhelmed.  Owain 
said,  "  My  lord  Gwalchmai,  I  did  not  know  thee  ;  take 
my  sword  and  my  arms."  Said  Gwalchmai,  "Thou, 
Owain,  art  the  victor  ;  take  thou  my  sword."  Arthur 
ended  the  contention  in  courtesy  by  taking  the  swords 
of  both,  and  then  they  all  rode  to  the  Castle  of  the 
Fountain,  where  Owain  entertained  them  with  great  joy. 
And  he  went  back  with  Arthur  to  Caerleon,  promising 
to  his  countess  that  he  would  remain  there  but  three 
months  and  then  return. 

397 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Owain  Forgets  his  Lady 

But  at  the  Court  of  Arthur  he  forgot  his  love  and  his 
duty,  and  remained  there  three  years.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  a  noble  lady  came  riding  upon  a  horse  caparisoned 
with  gold,  and  she  sought  out  Owain  and  took  the  ring 
from  his  hand.  "Thus,"  she  said,  "  shall  be  treated  the 
deceiver,  the  traitor,  the-faithless,  the  disgraced,  and  the 
beardless."  Then  she  turned  her  horse's  head  and 
departed.  And  Owain,  overwhelmed  with  shame  and 
remorse,  fled  from  the  sight  of  men  and  lived  in  a 
desolate  country  with  wild  beasts  till  his  body  wasted 
and  his  hair  grew  long  and  his  clothing  rotted  away. 

Owain  and  the  Lion 

In  this  guise,  when  near  to  death  from  exposure  and 
want,  he  was  taken  in  by  a  certain  widowed  countess 
and  her  maidens,  and  restored  to  strength  by  magic 
balsams  ;  and  although  they  besought  him  to  remain 
with  them,  he  rode  forth  again,  seeking /or  lonely  and 
desert  lands.  Here  he  found  a  lion  in  battle  with  a 
great  serpent.  Owain  slew  the  serpent,  and  the  lion 
followed  him  and  played  about  him  as  if  it  had  been  a 
greyhound  that  he  had  reared.  And  it  fed  him  by 
catching  deer,  part  of  which  Owain  cooked  for  himself, 
giving  the  rest  to  his  lion  to  devour;  and  the  beast 
kept  watch  over  him  by  night. 

Release  of  Luned 

Owain  next  finds  an  imprisoned  damsel,  whose  sighs 
he  hears,  though  he  cannot  see  her  nor  she  him.  Being 
questioned,  she  told  him  that  her  name  was  Luned — 
she  was  the  handmaid  of  a  countess  whose  husband  had 
left  her,  "and  he  was  the  friend  I  loved  best  in  the 
world."  Two  of  the  pages  of  the  countess  had  traduced 
398 


THE  TALE  OF  ENID  AND  GERAINT 

him,  and  because  she  defended  him  she  was  condemne 
to  be  burned  if  before  a  year  was  out  he  (namely,  Owai 
son  of  Urien)  had  not  appeared  to  deliver  her.     An 
the  year  would  end  to-morrow.     On  the  next  day  Owain 
met  the  two  youths  leading  Luned  to  execution  and  did 
battle  with  them.     With  the  help  of  the  lion  he  over- 
came them,  rescued  Luned,  and  returned  to  the  Castle 
of  the  Fountain,  where  he  was  reconciled  with  his  love. 
And  he  took  her  with  him  to  Arthur's  Court,  and  she 
was  his  wife  there  as  long  as  she  lived.     Lastly  comes 
an  adventure  in  which,  still  aided  by  the  lion,  he  van- 
quishes a  black  giant  and  releases  four-and-twenty  noble 
ladies,  and  the  giant  vows  to  give  up  his  evil  ways  and 
keep  a  hospice  for  wayfarers  as  long  as  he  should  live. 
"And  thenceforth  Owain  dwelt  at  Arthur's  Court, 
greatly  beloved,  as  the  head  of  his  household,  until  he 
went  away  with  his  followers  ;  and  these  were  the  army 
of  three  hundred  ravens  which  Kenverchyn1  had  left 
him.     And  wherever  Owain  went  with  these  he  was  vic- 
torious. And  this  is  the  tale  of  the  Lady  of  the  Fountain." 

The  Tale  of  Enid  and  Geraint 

In  this  tale,  which  appears  to  be  based  on  the 
"Erec"  of  Chrestien  de  Troyes,  the  main  interest  is 
neither  mythological  nor  adventurous,  but  sentimental. 
How  Geraint  found  and  wooed  his  love  as  the  daughter 
of  a  great  lord  fallen  on  evil  days  ;  how  he  jousted  for 
her  with  Edeyrn,  son  of  Nudd — a  Cymric  deity  trans- 
formed into  the  "  Knight  of  the  Sparrowhawk  "  ;  how, 
lapped  in  love  of  her,  he  grew  careless  of  his  fame 
and   his  duty  ;  how  he  misunderstood  the  words  she 

1  There  is  no  other  mention  of  this  Kenverchyn  or  of  now  Owain 
got  his  raven-army,  also  referred  to  in  "  The  Dream  of  Rhonabwy." 
We  have  here  evidently  a  piece  of  antique  mythology  embedded  in 
a  more  modern  fabric. 

399 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

murmured  over  him  as  she  deemed  him  sleeping,  and 
doubted  her  faith  ;  how  despitefully  he  treated  her  ; 
and  in  how  many  a  bitter  test  she  proved  her  love 
and  loyalty — all  these  things  have  been  made  so 
familiar  to  English  readers  in  Tennyson's  "Enid" 
that  they  need  not  detain  us  here.  Tennyson,  in 
this  instance,  has  followed  his  original  very  closely. 

Legends  of  the  Grail:  The  Tale  of  Peredur 

The  Tale  of  Peredur  is  one  of  great  interest  and 
significance  in  connexion  with  the  origin  of  the  Grail 
legend.  Peredur  corresponds  to  the  Perceval  of 
Chrestien  de  Troyes,  to  whom  we  owe  the  earliest 
extant  poem  on  the  Grail ;  but  that  writer  left  his 
Grail  story  unfinished,  and  we  never  learn  from  him 
what  exactly  the  Grail  was  or  what  gave  it  its  im- 
portance. When  we  turn  for  light  to  "  Peredur," 
which  undoubtedly  represents  a  more  ancient  form  of 
the  legend,  we  find  ourselves  baffled.  For  "  Peredur  " 
may  be  described  as  the  Grail  story  without  the  Grail. 
The  strange  personages,  objects,  and  incidents  which 
form  the  usual  setting  for  the  entry  upon  the  scene  of 
this  mystic  treasure  are  all  here  ;  we  breathe  the  very 
atmosphere  of  the  Grail  Castle  ;  but  of  the  Grail  itself 
there  is  no  word.  The  story  is  concerned  simply  with 
the  vengeance  taken  by  the  hero  for  the  slaying  of  a 
kinsman,  and  for  this  end  only  are  the  mysteries  of  the 
Castle  of  Wonders  displayed  to  him.  One  cannot  but 
feel  as  if  the  character  of  Peredur,  his  early  adventures, 
and  the  mysteries  of  the  castle  were  intended  to  lead 
up  to  something  of  much  loftier  import  than  actually 
appears  in  the  working  out  of  the  story. 

We  learn  at  the  opening  of  the  tale  that  Peredur  was 
in  the  significant  position  of  being  a  seventh  son.  To 
be  a  seventh  son  was,  in  this  world  of  mystical  romance, 
4  co 


HIS  FIRST  FEAT  OF  ARMS 

equivalent  to  being  marked  out  by  destiny  for  fortunes 
high  and  strange.  His  father,  Evrawc,  an  earl  of  the 
North,  and  his  six  brothers  had  fallen  in  fight. 
Peredur's  mother,  therefore,  fearing  a  similar  fate  for 
her  youngest  child,  brought  him  up  in  a  forest,  keeping 
from  him  all  knowledge  of  chivalry  or  warfare  and  of 
such  things  as  war-horses  or  weapons.  Here  he  grew 
up  a  simple  rustic  in  manner  and  in  knowledge,  but  of 
an  amazing  bodily  strength  and  activity. 

He  Goes  Forth  in  Quest  of  Adventure 

One  day  he  saw  three  knights  on  the  borders  of  the 
forest.  They  were  all  of  Arthur's  Court — Gwalchmai, 
Geneir,  and  Owain.  Entranced  by  the  sight,  he 
asked  his  mother  what  these  beings  were.  "They 
are  angels,  my  son,"  said  she.  "  By  my  faith,"  said 
Peredur,  "  I  will  go  and  become  an  angel  with  them." 
He  goes  to  meet  them,  and  soon  learns  what  they  are. 
Owain  courteously  explains  to  him  the  use  ot  a  saddle, 
a  shield,  a  sword,  all  the  accoutrements  of  warfare ; 
and  Peredur  that  evening  picked  out  a  bony  piebald 
draught-horse,  and  dressed  him  up  in  a  saddle  and 
trappings  made  of  twigs,  and  imitated  from  those  he 
had  seen.  Seeing  that  he  was  bent  on  going  forth  to 
deeds  of  chivalry,  his  mother  gave  him  her  blessing 
and  sundry  instructions,  and  bade  him  seek  the  Court 
of  Arthur  ;  "  there  there  are  the  best,  and  the  boldest, 
and  the  most  beautiful  of  men." 

His  First  Feat  of  Arms 

Peredur  mounted  his  Rosinante,  took  for  weapons 
a  handful  of  sharp-pointed  stakes,  and  rode  forth 
to  Arthur's  Court.  Here  the  steward,  Kai,  rudely 
repulsed  him  for  his  rustic  appearance,  but  a  dwarf 
and    dwarfess,  who    had    been    a    year   at    the    Court 

2  c  401 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

without  speaking  one  word  to  any  one  there,  cried  : 
"  Goodly  Peredur,  son  of  Evrawc  ;  the  welcome  of 
Heaven  be  unto  thee,  flower  of  knights  and  light  of 
chivalry."  Kai  chastised  the  dwarfs  for  breaking 
silence  by  lauding  such  a  fellow  as  Peredur,  and 
when  the  latter  demanded  to  be  brought  to  Arthur, 
bade  him  first  go  and  overcome  a  stranger  knight  who 
had  just  challenged  the  whole  Court  by  throwing  a 
goblet  of  wine  into  the  face  of  Gwenhwyvar,  and  whom 
all  shrank  from  meeting.  Peredur  went  out  promptly 
to  where  the  ruffian  knight  was  swaggering  up  and 
down,  awaiting  an  opponent,  and  in  the  combat  that 
ensued  pierced  his  skull  with  one  of  his  sharp  stakes 
and  slew  him.  Owain  then  came  out  and  found 
Peredur  dragging  his  fallen  enemy  about.  "What 
art  thou  doing  there?"  said  Owain.  "This  iron  coat," 
said  Peredur,  "  will  never  come  off  from  him  ;  not  by 
my  efforts  at  any  rate."  So  Owain  showed  him  how  to 
unfasten  the  armour,  and  Peredur  took  it,  and  the 
knight's  weapons  and  horse,  and  rode  forth  to  seek  what 
further  adventures  might  befall. 

Here  we  have  the  character  of  der  reine  Thor,  the  valiant 
and  pure-hearted  simpleton,  clearly  and  vividly  drawn. 

Peredur  on  leaving  Arthur's  Court  had  many  en- 
counters in  which  he  triumphed  with  ease,  sending  the 
beaten  knights  to  Caerleon-on-Usk  with  the  message 
that  he  had  overthrown  them  for  the  honour  of  Arthur 
and  in  his  service,  but  that  he,  Peredur,  would  never 
come  to  the  Court  again  till  he  had  avenged  the  insult 
to  the  dwarfs  upon  Kai,  who  was  accordingly  reproved 
by  Arthur  and  was  greatly  grieved  thereat. 

The  Castle  of  "Wonders 

We  now  come  into  what  the  reader  will  immediately 
recognise  as  the  atmosphere  of  the  Grail  legend.  Peredur 
402 


THE  CASTLE  OF  WONDERS 

came  to  a  castle  beside  a  lake,  where  he  found  a  venerable 
man  with  attendants  about  him  who  were  fishing  in  the 
lake.  As  Peredur  approached,  the  aged  man  rose  and 
went  into  the  castle,  and  Peredur  saw  that  he  was  lame. 
Peredur  entered,  and  was  hospitably  received  in  a  great 
hall.  The  aged  man  asked  him,  when  they  had  done 
their  meal,  if  he  knew  how  to  fight  with  the  sword,  and 
promised  to  teach  him  all  knightly  accomplishments, 
and  "the  manners  and  customs  of  different  countries, 
and  courtesy  and  gentleness  and  noble  bearing."  And 
he  added :  "  I  am  thy  uncle,  thy  mother's  brother." 
Finally,  he  bade  him  ride  forth,  and  remember,  whatever 
he  saw  that  might  cause  him  wonder,  not  to  ask  the 
meaning  of  it  if  no  one  had  the  courtesy  to  inform  him. 
This  is  the  test  of  obedience  and  self-restraint  on  which 
the  rest  of  the  adventure  turns. 

On  next  riding  forth,  Peredur  came  to  a  vast  desert 
wood,  beyond  which  he  found  a  great  castle,  the  Castle 
of  Wonders.  He  entered  it  by  the  open  door,  and 
found  a  stately,  hoary-headed  man  sitting  in  a  great  hall 
with  many  pages  about  him,  who  received  Peredur 
honourably.  At  meat  Peredur  sat  beside  the  lord  of 
the  castle,  who  asked  him,  when  they  had  done,  if  he 
could  fight  with  a  sword.  "  Were  I  to  receive  instruc- 
tion," said  Peredur,  "  I  think  I  could."  The  lord  then 
gave  Peredur  a  sword,  and  bade  him  strike  at  a  great 
iron  staple  that  was  in  the  floor.  Peredur  did  so,  and 
cut  the  staple  in  two,  but  the  sword  also  flew  into  two 
parts.  "  Place  the  two  parts  together,"  said  the  lord. 
Peredur  did  so,  and  they  became  one  again,  both  sword 
and  staple.  A  second  time  this  was  done  with  the  same 
result.  The  third  time  neither  sword  nor  staple  would 
reunite. 

"Thou  hast  arrived,"  said  the  lord,  "at  two-thirds 
of  thy  strength."     He  then  declared  that  he  also  was 

403 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

Peredur's  uncle,  and  brother  to  the  fisher-lord  with 
whom  Peredur  had  lodged  on  the  previous  night.  As 
they  discoursed,  two  youths  entered  the  hall  bearing  a 
spear  of  mighty  size,  from  the  point  of  which  three 
streams  of  blood  dropped  upon  the  ground,  and  all  the 
company  when  they  saw  this  began  wailing  and  lament- 
ing with  a  great  outcry,  but  the  lord  took  no  notice  and 
did  not  break  off  his  discourse  with  Peredur.  Next 
there  came  in  two  maidens  carrying  between  them  a 
large  salver,  on  which,  amid  a  profusion  of  blood,  lay  a 
man's  head.  Thereupon  the  wailing  and  lamenting 
began  even  more  loudly  than  before.  But  at  last  they 
fell  silent,  and  Peredur  was  led  off  to  his  chamber. 
Mindful  of  the  injunction  of  the  fisher-lord,  he  had 
shown  no  surprise  at  what  he  saw,  nor  had  he  asked 
the  meaning  of  it.  He  then  rode  forth  again  in  quest 
of  other  adventures,  which  he  had  in  bewildering  abund- 
ance, and  which  have  no  particular  relation  to  the  main 
theme.  The  mystery  of  the  castle  is  not  revealed  till 
the  last  pages  of  the  story.  The  head  in  the  silver  dish 
was  that  of  a  cousin  of  Peredur's.  The  lance  was  the 
weapon  with  which  he  was  slain,  and  with  which  also 
the  uncle  of  Peredur,  the  fisher-lord,  had  been  lamed. 
Peredur  had  been  shown  these  things  to  incite  him  to 
avenge  the  wrong,  and  to  prove  his  fitness  for  the  task. 
The  "nine  sorceresses  of  Gloucester  "  are  said  to  have 
been  those  who  worked  these  evils  on  the  relatives  of 
Peredur.  On  learning  these  matters  Peredur,  with  the 
help  of  Arthur,  attacked  the  sorceresses,  who  were  slain 
every  one,  and  the  vengeance  was  accomplished. 

The  Conte  del  Graal 

The  tale  of  Chrestien  de  Troyes  called  the  "  Conte 
del  Graal "  or  "  Perceval  le  Gallois  "  launched  the  story 
in  European  literature.  It  was  written  about  the  year 
404 


"The  wailing  and  lamenting  began  even  more  loudly  than  before" 

404 


THE  CASTLE  OF  WONDERS 

1 1 80.  It  agrees  in  the  introductory  portion  with 
"  Peredur,"  the  hero  being  here  called  Perceval.  He 
is  trained  in  knightly  accomplishments  by  an  aged 
knight  named  Gonemans,  who  warns  him  against 
talking  overmuch  and  asking  questions.  When  he 
comes  to  the  Castle  of  Wonders  the  objects  brought 
into  the  hall  are  a  blood-dripping  lance,  a  "  graal " 
accompanied  by  two  double-branched  candlesticks,  the 
light  of  which  is  put  out  by  the  shining  of  the  graal,  a 
silver  plate  and  sword,  the  last  of  which  is  given  to 
Perceval.  The  bleeding  head  of  the  Welsh  story  does 
not  appear,  nor  are  we  told  what  the  graal  was.  Next 
day  when  Perceval  rode  forth  he  met  a  maiden  who 
upbraided  him  fiercely  for  not  having  asked  the  meaning 
of  what  he  saw — had  he  done  so  the  lame  king  (who  is 
here  identical  with  the  lord  of  the  Castle  of  Wonders) 
would  have  been  made  whole  again.  Perceval's  sin  in 
quitting  his  mother  against  her  wish  was  the  reason  why 
he  was  withholden  from  asking  the  question  which  would 
have  broken  the  spell.  This  is  a  very  crude  piece  of 
invention,  for  it  was  manifestly  Peredur's  destiny  to 
take  arms  and  achieve  the  adventure  of  the  Grail,  and 
he  committed  no  sin  in  doing  so.  Later  on  in  the  story 
Perceval  is  met  by  a  damsel  of  hideous  appearance, 
who  curses  him  for  his  omission  to  ask  concerning  the 
lance  and  the  other  wonders — had  he  done  so  the  king 
would  have  been  restored  and  would  have  ruled  his 
land  in  peace,  but  now  maidens  will  be  put  to  shame, 
knights  will  be  slain,  widows  and  orphans  will  be 
made. 

This  conception  of  the  question  episode  seems  to  me 
radically  different  from  that  which  was  adopted  in  the 
Welsh  version.  It  is  characteristic  of  Peredur  that  he 
always  does  as  he  is  told  by  proper  authority.  The 
question  was  a  test  of  obedience  and  self-restraint,  and 

405 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

he  succeeded  in  the  ordeal.     In  fairy  literature  one  is 
often  punished  for  curiosity,  but  never  for  discretion 
and  reserve.     The  Welsh  tale  here  preserves,  I  think, 
the  original  form  of  the  story.     But  the  French  writers 
mistook  the  omission  to  ask  questions  for  a  failure  on 
the  part  of  the  hero,  and  invented  a  shallow  and  incon- 
gruous theory   of  the    episode  and  its    consequences. 
Strange  to  say,  however,  the  French  view  found  its  way 
into  later  versions  of  the  Welsh  tale,  and  such  a  version 
is  that  which  we  have  in  the  "  Mabinogion."     Peredur, 
towards  the   end  of  the   story,  meets  with  a  hideous 
damsel,  the  terrors  of  whose  aspect  are  vividly  described, 
and  who  rebukes  him  violently  for  not  having  asked  the 
meaning   of  the  marvels  at  the  castle  :    "  Hadst  thou 
done  so  the  king  would  have  been  restored  to  health, 
and  his  dominions  to  peace.     Whereas  from  henceforth 
he  will  have  to  endure  battles  and  conflicts,  and   his 
knights  will  perish,  and  wives   will  be  widowed,  and 
maidens  will  be  left  portionless,  and  all  this  is  because 
of  thee."     I  regard  this  loathly  damsel  as  an  obvious 
interpolation   in  the  Welsh    tale.       She    came  into   it 
straight  out  of  the  pages  of  Chrestien.     That  she  did 
not  originally  belong  to  the  story  of  Peredur  seems 
evident  from  the  fact  that  in  this  tale  the  lame  lord  who 
bids  Peredur  refrain  from  asking  questions  is,  according 
to  the  damsel,  the  very  person  who  would  have  benefited 
by  his  doing  so.     As  a  matter  of  fact,  Peredur  never 
does  ask  the  question,  and  it  plays  no  part  in  the  con- 
clusion of  the  story. 

Chrestien's  unfinished  tale  tells  us  some  further 
adventures  of  Perceval  and  of  his  friend  and  fellow- 
knight,  Gauvain,  but  never  explains  the  significance  of 
the  mysterious  objects  seen  at  the  castle.  His  con- 
tinuators,  of  whom  Gautier  was  the  first,  tell  us  that 
the  Graal  was  the  Cup  of  the  Last  Supper  and  the  lance 
406 


WOLFRAM  VON  ESCHENBACH 
that  which  had  pierced  the  side  of  Christ  at  the  Cruci- 
fixion ;  and  that  Peredur  ultimately  makes  his  way  back 
to  the  castle,  asks  the  necessary  question,  and  succeeds  his 
uncle  as  lord  of  the  castle  and  guardian  of  its  treasures. 

Wolfram  von  Eschenbach 

In  the  story  as  given  by  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach, 
who  wrote  about  the  year  1200 — some  twenty  years 
later  than  Chrestien  de  Troyes,  with  whose  work  he 
was  acquainted — we  meet  with  a  new  and  unique  con- 
ception of  the  Grail.  He  says  of  the  knights  of  the 
Grail  Castle  : 

"  Si  lebent  von  einem  steine 
Des  geslahte  ist  vil  reine  .   .  . 
Es  heizet  lapsit  [lapis]  exillh, 
Der  stein  ist  ouch  genannt  der  Gral."  1 

It  was  originally  brought  down  from  heaven  by  a 
flight  of  angels  and  deposited  in  Anjou,  as  the  worthiest 
region  for  its  reception.  Its  power  is  sustained  by  a 
dove  which  every  Good  Friday  comes  from  heaven  and 
lays  on  the  Grail  a  consecrated  Host.  It  is  preserved 
in  the  Castle  of  Munsalvasche  [Montsalvat]  and  guarded 
by  four  hundred  knights,  who  are  all,  except  their  king, 
vowed  to  virginity.  The  king  may  marry,  and  is 
indeed,  in  order  to  maintain  the  succession,  commanded 
to  do  so  by  the  Grail,  which  conveys  its  messages  to 
mankind  by  writing  which  appears  upon  it  and  which 
fades  away  when  deciphered.  In  the  time  of  Parzival 
the  king  is  Anfortas.  He  cannot  die  in  presence  of 
the  Grail,  but  he  suffers  from  a  wound  which,  because 
he   received   it  in  the  cause  of  worldly  pride   and  in 

1  "  They  are  nourished  by  a  stone  of  most  noble  nature  ...  it 
is  called  lapis  exilis  ;  the  stone  is  also  called  the  Gral."  By  the  term 
lapis  exilis,  though  it  is  not  grammatical  Latin,  Wolfram  appears  to 
have  meant  "the  [from  Heaven]  exiled  stone." 

407 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

seeking  after  illicit  love,  the  influence  of  the  Grail 
cannot  heal  until  the  destined  deliverer  shall  break  the 
spell.  This  Parzival  should  have  done  by  asking  the 
question,  "  What  aileth  thee,  uncle  ?  "  The  French 
version  makes  Perceval  fail  in  curiosity — Wolfram  con- 
ceives the  failure  as  one  in  sympathy.  He  fails,  at  any 
rate,  and  next  morning  finds  the  castle  empty  and  his 
horse  standing  ready  for  him  at  the  gate  ;  as  he  departs 
he  is  mocked  by  servitors  who  appear  at  the  windows 
of  the  towers.  After  many  adventures,  which  are  quite 
unlike  those  either  in  Chrestien's  "  Conte  del  Graal  " 
or  in  "  Peredur,"  Parzival,  who  has  wedded  the  maiden 
Condwiramur,  finds  his  way  back  to  the  Grail  Castle — 
which  no  one  can  reach  except  those  destined  and 
chosen  to  do  so  by  the  Grail  itself — breaks  the  spell, 
and  rules  over  the  Grail  dominions,  his  son  Loheran- 
grain  becoming  the  Knight  of  the  Swan,  who  goes  abroad 
righting  wrongs,  and  who,  like  all  the  Grail  knights,  is 
forbidden  to  reveal  his  name  and  origin  to  the  outside 
world.  Wolfram  tells  us  that  he  had  the  substance  of 
the  tale  from  the  Provencal  poet  Kyot  or  Guiot — 
"  Kyot,  der  meister  wol  bekannt " — who  in  his  turn — 
but  this  probably  is  a  mere  piece  of  romantic  invention 
— professed  to  have  found  it  in  an  Arabic  book  in 
Toledo,  written  by  a  heathen  named  Flegetanis. 

The  Contfnuators  of  Chrestien 

What  exactly  may  have  been  the  material  before 
Chrestien  de  Troyes  we  cannot  tell,  but  his  various 
co-workers  and  continuators,  notably  Manessier,  all 
dwell  on  the  Christian  character  of  the  objects  shown  to 
Perceval  in  the  castle,  and  the  question  arises,  How  did 
they  come  to  acquire  this  character  ?  The  Welsh  story, 
certainly  the  most  archaic  form  of  the  legend,  shows 
that  they  did  not  have  it  from  the  beginning.  An 
408 


THE  GRAIL  A  TALISMAN  OF  ABUNDANCE 

indication  in  one  of  the  French  continuations  to 
Chrestien's  "  Conte "  may  serve  to  put  us  on  the 
track.  Gautier,  the  author  of  this  continuation,  tells 
us  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  Gauvain  [Sir  Gawain] 
to  achieve  the  adventure  of  the  Grail.  He  partially 
succeeds,  and  this  half-success  has  the  effect  of  restoring 
the  lands  about  the  castle,  which  were  desert  and 
untilled,  to  blooming  fertility.  The  Grail  therefore, 
besides  its  other  characters,  had  a  talismanic  power  in 
promoting  increase,  wealth,  and  rejuvenation. 

The  Grail  a  Talisman  of  Abundance 

The  character  of  a  cornucopia,  a  symbol  and  agent 
of  abundance  and  vitality,  clings  closely  to  the  Grail  in 
all  versions  of  the  legend.  Even  in  the  loftiest  and 
most  spiritual  of  these,  the  "Parzival"  of  Wolfram 
von  Eschenbach,  this  quality  is  very  strongly  marked. 
A  sick  or  wounded  man  who  looked  on  it  could  not 
die  within  the  week,  nor  could  its  servitors  grow  old  : 
"  though  one  looked  on  it  for  two  hundred  years,  his 
hair  would  never  turn  grey."  The  Grail  knights  lived 
from  it,  apparently  by  its  turning  into  all  manner  of 
food  and  drink  the  bread  which  was  presented  to  it  by 
pages.  Each  man  had  of  it  food  according  to  his 
pleasure,  a  son  gre — from  this  word  gre,  greable,  the 
name  Gral,  which  originated  in  the  French  versions, 
was  supposed  to  be  derived.1  It  was  the  satisfaction 
of  all  desires.  In  Wolfram's  poem  the  Grail,  though 
connected  with  the  Eucharist,  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
stone,  not  a  cup.  It  thus  appears  as  a  relic  of  ancient 
stone-worship.  It  is  remarkable  that  a  similar  Stone 
of  Abundance  occurs  also  in  the  Welsh  "  Peredur," 
though  not  as  one  of  the  mysteries  of  the   castle.      It 

1  The  true  derivation  is  from  the  Low  Latin  cratella,  a  small  vessel 
or  chalice. 

409 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

was  guarded  by  a  black  serpent,  which  Peredur  slew, 
and  he  gave  the  stone  to  his  friend  Etlyn. 

The  Celtic  Cauldron  of  Abundance 

Now  the  reader  has  by  this  time  become  well 
acquainted  with  an  object  having  the  character  of  a 
talisman  of  abundance  and  rejuvenation  in  Celtic  myth. 
As  the  Cauldron  of  the  Dagda  it  came  into  Ireland 
with  the  Danaans  from  their  mysterious  fairy-land.  In 
Welsh  legend  Bran  the  Blessed  got  it  from  Ireland, 
whither  it  returned  again  as  part  of  Branwen's  dowry. 
In  a  strange  and  mystic  poem  by  Taliesin  it  is  repre- 
sented as  part  of  the  spoils  of  Hades,  or  Annwn, 
brought  thence  by  Arthur,  in  a  tragic  adventure  not 
otherwise  recorded.  It  is  described  by  Taliesin  as 
lodged  in  Caer  Pedryvan,  the  Four-square  Castle  of 
Pwyll  ;  the  fire  that  heated  it  was  fanned  by  the  breath 
of  nine  maidens,  its  edge  was  rimmed  with  pearls, 
and  it  would  not  cook  the  food  of  a  coward  or  man 
forsworn  i1 

"  Am  I  not  a  candidate  for  fame,  to  be  heard  in  song 
In  Caer  Pedryvan,  four  times  revolving  ? 
The  first  word  from  the  cauldron,  when  was  it  spoken  ? 
By  the  breath  of  nine  maidens  it  was  gently  warmed. 
Is  it  not  the  cauldron  of  the  chief  of  Annwn  ?     What  is  its 

fashion  ? 
A  rim  of  pearls  is  round  its  edge. 

It  will  not  cook  the  food  of  a  coward  or  one  forsworn. 
A  sword  flashing  bright  will  be  raised  to  him, 
And  left  in  the  hand  of  Lleminawg. 

1  A  similar  selective  action  is  ascribed  to  the  Grail  by  Wolfram. 
It  can  only  be  lifted  by  a  pure  maiden  when  carried  into  the  hall, 
and  a  heathen  cannot  see  it  or  be  benefited  by  it.  The  same  idea 
is  also  strongly  marked  in  the  story  narrating  the  early  history  of 
the  Grail  by  Robert  de  Borron,  about  1210  :  the  impure  and  sinful 
cannot  benefit  by  it.  Borron,  however,  does  not  touch  upon  the 
Perceval  or  "quest  "  portion  of  the  story  at  all. 
410 


THE  CELTIC  CAULDRON  OF  ABUNDANCE 

And  before   the  door  of  the   gate   of  Uffern  l   the   lamp   was 

burning. 
When  we  went  with  Arthur — a  splendid  labour — 
Except  seven,  none  returned  from  Caer  Vedwyd. 

"  Am  I  not  a  candidate  for  fame  to  be  heard  in  song, 
In  Caer  Pedryvan,  in  the  Isle  of  the  Strong  Door, 
Where  twilight  and  pitchy  darkness  meet  together, 
And  bright  wine  is  the  drink  of  the  host? 
Thrice  enough  to  fill  Prydwen  2  we  went  on  the  sea. 
Except  seven,  none  returned  from  Caer  Rigor."  3 

Now  in  the  Welsh  "  Peredur  "  we  have  clearly  the 
outline  of  the  original  Celtic  tale,  but  there  is  nothing 
in  it,  or  at  least  nothing  in  the  central  theme,  answering 
to  the  Grail.  We  may  conjecture,  however,  from 
Gautier's  continuation  of  Chrestien's  poem  that  a  talis- 
man of  abundance  figured  in  early  Continental,  probably 
Breton,  versions  of  the  legend.  In  one  version  at 
least — that  on  which  Wolfram  based  his  "  Parzival  " — 
this  talisman  was  a  stone.  But  usually  it  would  have 
been,  not  a  stone,  but  a  cauldron  or  vessel  of  some 
kind  endowed  with  the  usual  attributes  of  the  magic 
cauldron  of  Celtic  myth.  This  vessel  was  associated 
with  a  blood-dripping  lance.  Here  were  the  suggestive 
elements  from  which  some  unknown  singer,  in  a  flash 
of  inspiration,  transformed  the  ancient  tale  of  vengeance 
and  redemption  into  the  mystical  romance  which  at 
once  took  possession  of  the  heart  and  soul  of  Christen- 
dom. The  magic  cauldron  became  the  cup  of  the 
Eucharist,  the  lance  was  invested  with  a  more  tre- 
mendous guilt  than    that  of  the   death   of  Peredur's 

1  Hades.  2  The  name  of  Arthur's  ship. 

3  Kingly  Castle.  Caer  Vedwyd  means  the  Castle  of  Revelry. 
They  are  names  for  the  same  place,  a  fortress  in  Annwn.  I  follow 
the  version  of  this  poem  given  by  Squire  in  his  "Mythology  of  the 
British  Islands,"  where  it  may  be  read  in  full. 

4II 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

kinsman.1  Celtic  poetry,  German  mysticism,  Christian 
chivalry,  and  ideas  of  magic  which  still  cling  to  the 
rude  stone  monuments  of  Western  Europe — all  these 
combined  to  make  the  story  of  the  Grail,  and  to  endow 
it  with  the  strange  attraction  which  has  led  to  its 
re-creation  by  artist  after  artist  for  seven  hundred  years. 
And  who,  even  now,  can  say  that  its  course  is  run  at 
last,  and  the  towers  of  Montsalvat  dissolved  into  the 
mist  from  which  they  sprang  ? 

The  Tale  of  Taliesin 

Alone  of  the  tales  in  the  collection  called  by  Lady 
Charlotte  Guest  the  "  Mabinogion,"  the  story  of  the 
birth  and  adventures  of  the  mythical  bard  Taliesin,  the 
Amergin  of  Cymric  legend,  is  not  found  in  the  four- 
teenth-century manuscript  entitled  "  The  Red  Book  of 
Hergest."  It  is  taken  from  a  manuscript  of  the  late 
sixteenth  or  seventeenth  century,  and  never  appears  to 
have  enjoyed  much  popularity  in  Wales.  Much  of  the 
very  obscure  poetry  attributed  to  Taliesin  is  to  be  found 
in  it,  and  this  is  much  older  than  the  prose.  The  object 
of  the  tale,  indeed,  as  Mr.  Nutt  has  pointed  out  in  his 
edition  of  the  "  Mabinogion,"  is  rather  to  provide  a  sort 
of  framework  for  stringing  together  scattered  pieces  of 
verse  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  Taliesin  than  to  tell 
a  connected  story  about  him  and  his  doings. 

The  story  of  the  birth  of  the  hero  is  the  most  inter- 
esting thing  in  the  tale.  There  lived,  it  was  said,  "in 
the  time  of  Arthur  of  the  Round  Table,"2  a  man  named 

1  The  combination  of  objects  at  the  Grail  Castle  is  very  sig- 
nificant. They  were  a  sword,  a  spear,  and  a  vessel,  or,  in  some 
versions,  a  stone.  These  are  the  magical  treasures  brought  by  the 
Danaans  into  Ireland — a  sword,  a  spear,  a  cauldron,  and  a  stone. 
See  pp.  105,  106. 

2  The  Round  Table  finds  no  mention  in  Cymric  legend  earlier 
than  the  fifteenth  century. 

412 


THE  TALE  OF  TALIESIN 

Tegid  Voel  of  Penllyn,  whose  wife  was  named  Ceridwen. 
They  have  a  son  named  Avagddu,  who  was  the  most 
ill-favoured  man  in  the  world.  To  compensate  for  his 
lack  of  beauty,  his  mother  resolved  to  make  him  a  sage. 
So,  according  to  the  art  of  the  books  of  Feryllt,1  she 
had  recourse  to  the  great  Celtic  source  of  magical 
influence — a  cauldron.  She  began  to  boil  a  "cauldron 
of  inspiration  and  science  for  her  son,  that  his  reception 
might  be  honourable  because  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  future  state  of  the  world."  The 
cauldron  might  not  cease  to  boil  for  a  year  and  a  day, 
and  only  in  three  drops  of  it  were  to  be  found  the 
magical  grace  of  the  brew. 

She  put  Gwion  Bach  the  son  of  Gwreang  of  Llanfair 
to  stir  the  cauldron,  and  a  blind  man  named  Morda  to 
keep  the  fire  going,  and  she  made  incantations  over  it 
and  put  in  magical  herbs  from  time  to  time  as  Feryllt's 
book  directed.  But  one  day  towards  the  end  of  the 
year  three  drops  of  the  magic  liquor  flew  out  of  the 
cauldron  and  lighted  on  the  finger  of  Gwion.  Like 
Finn  mac  Cumhal  on  a  similar  occasion,  he  put  his 
finger  in  his  mouth,  and  immediately  became  gifted 
with  supernatural  insight.  He  saw  that  he  had  got 
what  was  intended  for  Avagddu,  and  he  saw  also  that 
Ceridwen  would  destroy  him  for  it  if  she  could.  So  he 
fled  to  his  own  land,  and  the  cauldron,  deprived  of  the 
sacred  drops,  now  contained  nothing  but  poison,  the 
power  of  which  burst  the  vessel,  and  the  liquor  ran  into 
a  stream  hard  by  and  poisoned  the  horses  of  Gwyddno 
Garanhir  which  drank  of  the  water.  Whence  the  stream 
is  called  the  Poison  of  the  Horses  of  Gwyddno  from 
that  time  forth. 

Ceridwen  now  came  on  the  scene  and  saw  that  her 
year's  labour  was  lost.     In  her  rage  she  smote  Morda 
1  Vergil,  in  his  mediaeval  character  of  magician. 

4*3 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

with  a  billet  of  firewood  and  struck  out  his  eye,  and 
she  then  pursued  after  Gwion  Bach.  He  saw  her  and 
changed  himself  into  a  hare.  She  became  a  greyhound. 
He  leaped  into  a  river  and  became  a  fish,  and  she 
chased  him  as  an  otter.  He  became  a  bird  and  she  a 
hawk.  Then  he  turned  himself  into  a  grain  of  wheat 
and  dropped  among  the  other  grains  on  a  threshing- 
floor,  and  she  became  a  black  hen  and  swallowed  him. 
Nine  months  afterwards  she  bore  him  as  an  infant  ;  and 
she  would  have  killed  him,  but  could  not  on  account  of 
his  beauty,  "  so  she  wrapped  him  in  a  leathern  bag,  and 
cast  him  into  the  sea  to  the  mercy  of  God." 

The  Luck  of  Elphin 

Now  Gwyddno,  of  the  poisoned  horses,  had  a  salmon 
weir  on  the  strand  between  Dyvi  and  Aberystwyth. 
And  his  son  Elphin,  a  needy  and  luckless  lad,  one  day 
fished  out  the  leathern  bag  as  it  stuck  on  the  weir. 
They  opened  it,  and  found  the  infant  within.  "  Behold 
a  radiant  brow  !  "  x  said  Gwyddno.  "  Taliesin  be  he 
called,"  said  Elphin.  And  they  brought  the  child 
home  very  carefully  and  reared  it  as  their  own.  And 
this  was  Taliesin,  prime  bard  of  the  Cymry  ;  and  the 
first  of  the  poems  he  made  was  a  lay  of  praise  to  Elphin 
and  promise  of  good  fortune  for  the  future.  And 
this  was  fulfilled,  for  Elphin  grew  in  riches  and  honour 
day  after  day,  and  in  love  and  favour  with  King 
Arthur. 

But  one  day  as  men  praised  King  Arthur  and  all  his 

belongings  above  measure,  Elphin  boasted  that  he  had 

a  wife  as  virtuous  as  any  at  Arthur's  Court  and  a  bard 

more  skilful  than  any  of  the  King's  ;  and  they  flung 

him  into  prison  until  they  should  see  if  he  could  make 

good  his  boast.     And  as  he  lay  there  with  a  silver  chain 

1  Taliesin. 
414 


TALIESIN,   PRIME  BARD   OF   BRITAIN 

about  his  feet,  a  graceless  fellow  named  Rhun  was  sent 
to  court  the  wife  of  Elphin  and  to  bring  back  proofs 
of  her  folly  ;  and  it  was  said  that  neither  maid  nor 
matron  with  whom  Rhun  conversed  but  was  evil- 
spoken  of. 

Taliesin  then  bade  his  mistress  conceal  herself,  and 
she  gave  her  raiment  and  jewels  to  one  of  the  kitchen- 
maids,  who  received  Rhun  as  if  she  were  mistress  of 
the  household.  And  after  supper  Rhun  plied  the  maid 
with  drink,  and  she  became  intoxicated  and  fell  in  a 
deep  sleep  ;  whereupon  Rhun  cut  off  one  of  her 
fingers,  on  which  was  the  signet-ring  of  Elphin  that 
he  had  sent  his  wife  a  little  while  before.  Rhun 
brought  the  finger  and  the  ring  on  it  to  Arthur's 
Court. 

Next  day  Elphin  was  fetched  out  of  prison  and 
shown  the  finger  and  the  ring.  Whereupon  he  said  : 
"  With  thy  leave,  mighty  king,  I  cannot  deny  the  ring, 
but  the  finger  it  is  on  was  never  my  wife's.  For  this 
is  the  little  finger,  and  the  ring  fits  tightly  on  it,  but 
my  wife  could  barely  keep  it  on  her  thumb.  And  my 
wife,  moreover,  is  wont  to  pare  her  nails  every  Saturday 
night,  but  this  nail  hath  not  been  pared  for  a  month. 
And  thirdly,  the  hand  to  which  this  finger  belonged 
was  kneading  rye-dough  within  three  days  past,  but 
my  wife  has  never  kneaded  rye-dough  since  my  wife 
she  has  been." 

Then  the  King  was  angry  because  his  test  had  failed, 
and  he  ordered  Elphin  back  to  prison  till  he  could  prove 
what  he  had  affirmed  about  his  bard. 

Taliesin,  Prime  Bard  of  Britain 

Then  Taliesin  went  to  court,  and  one  high  day  when 
the  King's  bards  and  minstrels  should  sing  and  play 
before  him,  Taliesin,  as  they  passed  him  sitting  quietly 

4i5 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

in  a  corner,  pouted  his  lips  and  played  "  Blerwm, 
blerwm  "  with  his  finger  on  his  mouth.  And  when  the 
bards  came  to  perform  before  the  King,  lo  !  a  spell  was 
on  them,  and  they  could  do  nothing  but  bow  before 
him  and  play  "  Blerwm,  blerwm  "  with  their  fingers  on 
their  lips.  And  the  chief  of  them,  Heinin,  said  : 
"  O  king,  we  be  not  drunken  with  wine,  but  are 
dumb  through  the  influence  of  the  spirit  that  sits  in 
yon  corner  under  the  form  of  a  child."  Then  Taliesin 
was  brought  forth,  and  they  asked  him  who  he  was  and 
whence  he  came.     And  he  sang  as  follows  : 

"  Primary  chief  bard  am  I  to  Elphin, 
And  my  original  country  is  the  region  of  the  summer  stars ; 
Idno  and  Heinin  called  me  Merddin, 
At  length  every  being  will  call  me  Taliesin. 

"  I  was  with  my  Lord  in  the  highest  sphere, 
On  the  fall  of  Lucifer  into  the  depth  of  hell ; 
I  have  borne  a  banner  before  Alexander ; 
I  know  the  names  of  the  stars  from  north  to  south. 

"  I  was  in  Canaan  when  Absalom  was  slain, 
I  was  in  the  court  of  Don  before  the  birth  of  Gwydion. 
I  was  at  the  place  of  the  crucifixion  of  the  merciful  Son  of  God  ; 
I  have  been  three  periods  in  the  prison  of  Arianrod. 

"  I  have  been  in  Asia  with  Noah  in  the  ark, 
I  have  seen  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 
I  have  been  in  India  when  Roma  was  built. 
I  am  now  come  here  to  the  remnant  of  Troia.1 

"  I  have  been  with  my  Lord  in  the  ass's  manger, 
I  strengthened  Moses  through  the  waters  of  Jordan ; 
I  have  been  in  the  firmament  with  Mary  Magdalene; 
I  have  obtained  the  Muse  from  the  cauldron  of  Ceridwen. 

"  I  shall  be  until  the  day  of  doom  on  the  face  of  the  earth; 
And  it  is  not  known  whether  my  body  is  flesh  or  fish. 

1  Alluding  to  the  imaginary  Trojan  ancestry  of  the  Britons. 
416 


CONCLUSION 

"  Then  was  I  for  nine  months 

In  the  womb  of  the  witch  Ceridwen  ; 
I  was  originally  little  Gwion, 
And  at  length  I  am  Taliesin."  1 

While  Taliesin  sang  a  great  storm  of  wind  arose,  and 
the  castle  shook  with  the  force  of  it.  Then  the  King 
bade  Elphin  be  brought  in  before  him,  and  when  he 
came,  at  the  music  of  Taliesin's  voice  and  harp  the 
chains  fell  open  of  themselves  and  he  was  free.  And 
many  other  poems  concerning  secret  things  of  the  past 
and  future  did  Taliesin  sing  before  the  King  and  his 
lords,  and  he  foretold  the  coming  of  the  Saxon  into 
the  land,  and  his  oppression  of  the  Cymry,  and  foretold 
also  his  passing  away  when  the  day  of  his  destiny 
should  come. 

Conclusion 

Here  we  end  this  long  survey  of  the  legendary  lite- 
rature of  the  Celt.  The  material  is  very  abundant, 
and  it  is,  of  course,  not  practicable  in  a  volume  of  this 
size  to  do  more  than  trace  the  main  current  of  the 
development  of  the  legendary  literature  down  to  the 
time  when  the  mythical  and  legendary  element  entirely 
faded  out  and  free  literary  invention  took  its  place. 
The  reader  of  these  pages  will,  however,  it  is  hoped, 
have  gained  a  general  conception  of  the  subject  which 
will  enable  him  to  understand  the  significance  of  such 
tales  as  we  have  not  been  able  to  touch  on  here,  and  to 
fit  them  into  their  proper  places  in  one  or  other  of  the 
great  cycles  of  Celtic  legend.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
we  have   not  entered  upon  the  vast  region  of  Celtic 

1  I  have  somewhat  abridged  this  curious  poem.  The  connexion 
with  ideas  of  transmigration,  as  in  the  legend  of  Tuan  mac  Carell 
(see  pp.  97-101),  is  obvious.  Tuan's  last  stage,  it  may  be  recalled, 
was  a  fish,  and  Taliesin  was  taken  in  a  salmon-weir. 

2    D  4I7 


MYTHS  OF  THE  CELTIC  RACE 

folk-lore.  Folk-lore  has  not  been  regarded  as  falling 
within  the  scope  of  the  present  work.  Folk-lore  may 
sometimes  represent  degraded  mythology,  and  some- 
times mythology  in  the  making.  In  either  case,  it  is 
its  special  characteristic  that  it  belongs  to  and  issues 
from  a  class  whose  daily  life  lies  close  to  the  earth, 
toilers  in  the  field  and  in  the  forest,  who  render  with 
simple  directness,  in  tales  or  charms,  their  impressions 
of  natural  or  supernatural  forces  with  which  their  own 
lives  are  environed.  Mythology,  in  the  proper  sense 
of  the  word,  appears  only  where  the  intellect  and  the 
imagination  have  reached  a  point  of  development  above 
that  which  is  ordinarily  possible  to  the  peasant  mind — 
when  men  have  begun  to  co-ordinate  their  scattered 
impressions  and  have  felt  the  impulse  to  shape  them 
into  poetic  creations  embodying  universal  ideas.  It  is 
not,  of  course,  pretended  that  a  hard-and-fast  line  can 
always  be  drawn  between  mythology  and  folk-lore  ; 
still,  the  distinction  seems  to  me  a  valid  one,  and  I  have 
tried  to  observe  it  in  these  pages. 

After  the  two  historical  chapters  with  which  our 
study  has  begun,  the  object  of  the  book  has  been  lite- 
rary rather  than  scientific.  I  have,  however,  endeavoured 
to  give,  as  the  opportunity  arose,  such  results  of  recent 
critical  work  on  the  relics  of  Celtic  myth  and  legend  as 
may  at  least  serve  to  indicate  to  the  reader  the  nature 
of  the  critical  problems  connected  therewith.  I  hope 
that  this  may  have  added  somewhat  to  the  value  of  the 
work  for  students,  while  not  impairing  its  interest  for 
the  general  reader.  Furthermore,  I  may  claim  that 
the  book  is  in  this  sense  scientific,  that  as  far  as  possible 
it  avoids  any  adaptation  of  its  material  for  the  popular 
taste.  Such  adaptation,  when  done  for  an  avowed 
artistic  purpose,  is  of  course  entirely  legitimate  ;  if  it 
were  not,  we  should  have  to  condemn  half  the  great 
418 


CONCLUSION 

poetry  of  the  world.  But  here  the  object  has  been  to 
present  the  myths  and  legends  of  the  Celt  as  they 
actually  are.  Crudities  have  not  been  refined  away, 
things  painful  or  monstrous  have  not  been  suppressed, 
except  in  some  few  instances,  where  it  has  been  neces- 
sary to  bear  in  mind  that  this  volume  appeals  to  a 
wider  audience  than  that  of  scientific  students  alone. 
The  reader  may,  I  think,  rely  upon  it  that  he  has  here 
a  substantially  fair  and  not  over-idealised  account  of 
the  Celtic  outlook  upon  life  and  the  world  at  a  time 
when  the  Celt  still  had  a  free,  independent,  natural  life, 
working  out  his  conceptions  in  the  Celtic  tongue,  and 
taking  no  more  from  foreign  sources  than  he  could 
assimilate  and  make  his  own.  The  legendary  literature 
thus  presented  is  the  oldest  non-classical  literature  of 
Europe.  This  alone  is  sufficient,  I  think,  to  give  it  a 
strong  claim  on  our  attention.  As  to  what  other  claims 
it  may  have,  many  pages  might  be  filled  with  quotations 
from  the  discerning  praises  given  to  it  by  critics  not  of 
Celtic  nationality,  from  Matthew  Arnold  downwards. 
But  here  let  it  speak  for  itself.  It  will  tell  us,  I  believe, 
that,  as  Maeldun  said  of  one  of  the  marvels  he  met 
with  in  his  voyage  into  Fairyland  :  "  What  we  see  here 
was  a  work  of  mighty  men." 


419 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  CELTIC  NAMES 

To  render  these  names  accurately  without  the  living  voice  is  impos- 
sible. But  with  the  phonetic  renderings  given,  where  required,  in  the 
following  index,  and  with  attention  to  the  following  general  rules, 
the  reader  will  get  as  near  to  the  correct  pronunciation  as  it  is  at  all 
necessary  for  him  to  do. 

I.  Gaelic 

Vowels  are  pronounced  as  in  French  or  German  ;  thus  i  (long)  is 
like  ee,  e  (long)  like  a  in  "  date,"  u  (long)  like  oo.  A  stroke  over  a 
letter  signifies  length ;  thus  dun  is  pronounced  "  doon  "  (not  "  dewn  "). 

ch  is  a  guttural,  as  in  the  word  "  loch."  It  is  never  pronounced  with 
a  t  sound,  as  in  English  "  chip." 

c  is  always  like  k. 

gh  is  silent,  as  in  English. 

II.  Cymric 

w,  when  a  consonant,  is  pronounced  as  in  English  ;  when  a  vowel, 
like  oo. 

y,  when  long,  is  like  ee  ;  when  short,  like  w  in  "  but." 

ch  and  c  as  in  Gaelic. 

dd  is  like  th  in  "  breathe." 

/  is  like  v  ;  ff  like  English  /. 

The  sound  of  11  is  perhaps  better  not  attempted  by  the  English 
reader.    It  is  a  thickened  I,  something  between  cl  and  th. 

Vowels  as  in  Gaelic,  but  note  that  there  are  strictly  no  diphthongs 
in  Welsh ;  in  combinations  of  vowels  each  is  given  its  own  sound. 


Abred.  The  innermost  of 
three  concentric  circles  repre- 
senting the  totality  of  being  in 
the  Cymric  cosmogony — the 
stage  of  struggle  and  evolution, 

333 

Abundance.  See  Stone  of 
Abundance 

£da  (ay'da).  i.  Dwarf  of  King 
Fergus  mac  Leda,  247.  2.  Royal 
suitor  for  Vivionn's  hand ; 
Vivionn  slain  by,  287 

^d'uans.  Familiar  with  plating 
of  copper  and  tin,  44 

/Egira.  Custom  of  the  priestess 
of  Earth  at,  in  Achaea,  ere  pro- 
phesying, 167 

iEsuN.    Umbrian  deity,  86 

yEsus.  Deity  mentioned  by  Lucan, 
86 


Aed  the  Fair  (Aed  Finn)  (aid). 
Chief  sage  of  Ireland  ;  author  of 
"  Voyage  of  Maeldun,"  331 

Aei  (ay'ee).  Plain  of,  where 
Brown  Bull  of  Quelgny  meets 
and  slays  Bull  of  Ailell,  225 

African  Origin.  Primitive 
population  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  evidence  of  lan- 
guage suggests,  78 

Age,  Iron.  The  ship  a  well- 
recognised  form  of  sepulchral 
enclosure  in  cemeteries  of  the, 
76 

Ag'noman.     Nemed's  father,  98 

Aideen.  Wife  of  Oscar,  261  ; 
dies  of  grief  after  Oscar's  death, 
261  ;  buried  on  Ben  Edar 
(Howth),  261,  262 

Aifa   (eefa).      Princess    of    Land 

of  Shadows  ;   war  made  upon, 

by    Skatha,     189;      Cuchulain 

overcomes    by    a    trick,     190  ; 

421 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


life  spared  conditionally  by 
Cuchulain,  190 ;  bears  a  son 
named  Connla,  190 

Aileach  (el-yach).  Fortress  in 
Co.  Donegal,  where  Ith  hears 
MacCuill  and  his  brothers  are 
arranging  the  division  of  the 
land,  132 

Ailill  (el'yill),  or  Ailell.  i. 
Son  of  Laery,  treacherously 
slain  by  his  uncle  Covac,  152. 
2.  Brother  of  Eochy;  his 
desperate  love  for  Etain, 
158-160.  3.  King  of  Con- 
nacht,  122;  Angus  Og  seeks 
aid  of,  122  ;  Fergus  seeks  aid 
of,  202  ;  assists  in  foray  against 
province  of  Ulster,  203-251  ; 
White-horned  Bull  of,  slain  by 
Brown  Bull  of  Quelgny,  225  ; 
makes  seven  years'  peace  with 
Ulster,  225  ;  hound  of  mac 
Datho  pursues  chariot  of,  244  ; 
slain  by  Conall,  245 

Ailill  Edge-of-Battle.  Of  the 
sept  of  the  Owens  of  Aran  ; 
father  of  Maeldun,  slain  by 
reavers  from  Leix,  310 

Ailill  Olum  (el-yill  olum). 
King  of  Munster  ;  ravishes  Aine 
and  is  slain  by  her,  127 

Aine.  A  love-goddess,  daughter 
of  the  Danaan  Owel  ;  Ailill 
Olum  and  Fitzgerald  her  lovers, 

127  ;     mother  of   Earl  Gerald, 

128  ;  still  worshipped  on  Mid- 
summer Eve,  128  ;  appears 
on  a  St.  John's  Night,  among 
girls  on  the  Hill,  128 

Ainle.   Brother  of  Naisi,  198 

Alexander  the  Great.  Counter- 
move  of  Hellas  against  the 
East  under,  22  ;  compact  with 
Celts  referred  to  by  Ptolemy 
Soter,  23 

Allen,  Mr.  Romilly.  On  Celtic 
art,  29,  30 

Allen,  Hill  of.  In  Kildare ; 
Finn's  chief  fortress,  266,  273 

Ama'sis  I.  Human  sacrifices 
abolished  by,  86 

Amatha'on.  Son  of  Don ;  and 
the  ploughing  task,  390 

Amer'gin.    Milesian  poet,  son  of 

422 


Miled,  husband  of  Skena,  133  ; 
his  strange  lay,  sung  when  his 
foot  first  touched  Irish  soil, 
134;  his  judgment,  delivered 
as  between  the  Danaans  and 
Milesians,  135  ;  chants  incan- 
tation to  land  of  Erin,  1 36  ; 
the  Druid,  gives  judgment  as 
to  claims  to  sovranty  of  Eremon 
and  Eber,  148 ;  Ollav  Fola 
compared  with,  1 50 

Ammia'nus  Marcellin'us.  Gauls 
described  by,  42 

Amor'gin.  Father  of  Conall  of 
the  Victories,  177 

Amyn'tas  II.  King  of  Macedon, 
defeated  and  exiled,  23 

Anglo-Saxon.  Wace's  French 
translation  of  "  Historia  Regum 
Britaniae  "  translated  by  Laya- 
mon  into,  338 

Angus.  A  Danaan  deity,  143. 
See  Angus  Og 

Angus  Og  (Angus  the  Young). 
Son  of  the  Dagda,  Irish  god  of 
love,  121,  123  ;  wooes  and  wins 
Caer,  121- 123  ;  Dermot  of  the 
Love-spot  bred  up  with,  123  ; 
Dermot  of  the  Love-spot  re- 
vived by,  123  ;  father  of  Maga, 
181  ;  Dermot  and  Grania  res- 
cued by  magical  devices  of, 
299 ;  Dermot's  body  borne 
away  by,  303 

Ankh,  The.  Found  on  Mega- 
lithic  carvings,  jj ,  78  ;  the 
symbol  of  vitality  or  resurrec- 
tion, 78 

An'luan.  Son  of  Maga;  rallies 
to  Maev's  foray  against  Ulster, 
204  ;  Conall  produces  the  head 
of,  to  Ket,  244 

Annwn  (annoon).  Corresponds 
with  Abyss,  or  Chaos  ;  the  prin- 
ciple of  destruction  in  Cymric 
cosmogony,  333 

Answerer,  The.  Mananan's 
magical  sword,  125 

Aoife  (eefa).  Lir's  second  wife ; 
her  jealousy  of  her  step-chil- 
dren, 139,  140;  her  punish- 
ment by  Bov  the  Red,  140 

Aonbarr  (ain-barr).  Mananan's 
magical  steed,  125 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Apollo.  Celtic  equivalent,  Lugh. 
Magical  services  in  honour  of, 
described  by  Hecataeus,  58  ; 
regarded  by  Gauls  as  deity  of 
medicine,  87,  88 

Aquitan'i.  One  of  three  peoples 
inhabiting  Gaul  when  Caesar's 
conquest  began,  58 

Arabia.    Dolmens  found  in,  53 

Arawn.  A  king  in  Annwn  ; 
appeals  to  Pwyll  for  help 
against  Havgan,  357  ;  ex- 
changes kingdoms  for  a  year 
with  Pwyll,  357-359 

Ard  Macha  (Armagh).  Emain 
Macha  now  represented  by 
grassy  ramparts  of  a  hill-for- 
tress close  to,  150 ;  signifi- 
cance, 251 

Ard  Righ  (ard  ree)  (i.e.,  High 
King).  Dermot  MacKerval,  of 
Ireland,  47 

Ardan.   Brother  of  Naisi,  198 

Ardcullin.  Cuchulain  places 
withe  round  pillar-stone  of, 
207 

Ardee.   Significance,  251 

Ari'anrod.  Sister  of  Gwydion  ; 
proposed  as  virgin  foot -holder  to 
Math;  Dylan  and  Llew  sons  of, 
380,  381 

Aristotle.    Celts  and,  17 

Armagh.  Invisible  dwelling  of 
Lir  on  Slieve  Fuad  in  County, 
125 

Arnold,  Matthew.  Reference 
to,  in  connexion  with  Celtic 
legendary  literature,  419 

Arr'ian.  Celtic  characteristics, 
evidence  of,  regarding,  36 

Artaius.  A  god  in  Celtic  mytho- 
logy who  occupies  the  place  of 
Gwydion,  349 

Arthur.  Chosen  leader  against 
Saxons,  whom  he  finally  de- 
feated in  battle  of  Mount 
Badon,  337  ;  Geoffrey  of  Mon- 
mouth's "  Historia  Regum 
Britaniae  "  commemorates  ex- 
ploits of,  337  ;  son  of  Uther 
Pendragon  and  Igerna,  337  ; 
Modred,  his  nephew,  usurps 
crown  of,  337  ;  Guanhumara, 
wife  of,  retires  to  convent,  337, 


338  ;  genealogy  set  forth,  352  ; 
tales  of,  in  Welsh  literature, 
386  ;  Kilhwch  at  court  of, 
387,  388  ;  the  "  Dream  of 
Rhonabwy  "  and,  392,  393  ; 
Owain,  son  of  Urien,  plays 
chess  with,  393  ;  adventure  of 
Kymon,  knight  of  court  of, 
394-396 ;  Gwenhwyvar,  wife  of, 
394  ;  Owain  at  court  of,  396, 
397.  399 ;  Peredur  at  court 
of,  401,  402 

Arthurian  Saga.  Mention  of 
early  British  legend  suggests, 
336  ;  the  saga  in  Brittany  and 
Marie  de  France,  339,  340, 
Miss  Jessie  L.  Weston's  article 
on,  in  the  "  Encyc.  Britann.," 
341  ;  Chrestien  de  Troyes  in- 
fluential in  bringing  into  the 
poetic  literature  of  Europe  the, 
340,  341  ;  various  sources  of, 
discussed,  342  ;  the  saga  in 
Wales,  343,  344  ;  never  entered 
Ireland,  343  ;  why  so  little  is 
heard  of,  in  accounts  of  Cymric 
myths,  344 

Asa.    Scandinavian  deity,  86 

Asal.  Of  the  Golden  Pillars 
King,  115 

Asura-masda.     Persian  deity,  86 

Athnurchar  (ath-nur'char),  or 
Ardnurchar  (The  Ford  of  the 
Sling-cast).  The  river-ford 
where  Ket  slings  Conall's 
"brain  ball"  at  Conor  mac 
Nessa,  240;    significance,  251 

Atlantic,  The.  Aoife's  cruelty 
to  her  step-children  on  waters 
of,  140,  141 

Austria.  Discovery  of  pre- 
Roman  necropolis  in,  28  ;  relics 
found  in,  developed  into  the 
La  T£ne  culture,  29 

Avagddu  (avagdhoo).  Son  of 
Tegid  Voel,  413  ;  deprived  of 
gift  of  supernatural  insight,  413 

A'valon.  Land  of  the  Dead ; 
bears  relation  with  Norse  Val- 
hall,  338  ;  its  later  identifica- 
tion with  Glastonbury,  338 

Avon  Dia.  Duel  between  Cuchu- 
lain and  Ferdia  causes  waters 
of,  to  hold  back,  121 

423 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Babylonia.     The  ship  symbol  in, 

76 
Balkans.      Earliest      home      of 

mountain  Celts  was   ranges  of, 

57 
Balor.  Ancestor  of  Lugh,  88; 
Bres  sent  to  seek  aid  of,  109 ; 
informed  that  Danaans  refuse 
tribute,  113  ;  Fomorian  cham- 
pion, engages  Nuada  of  the 
Silver  Hand,  and  slain  by  Lugh, 
117;  one  of  the  names  of 
the  god  of  Death,  1 30  ;  in- 
cluded in  Finn's  ancestry,  255 
Banba      Wife  of    Danaan    king, 

MacCuill,  132 
Bann,   The    River.     Visited  by 

mac  Cecht,  175 
Barbarossa,  Kaiser.     Tradition 
that    Finn    lies    in    some    en- 
chanted cove  spellbound,  like, 
308 
"Barddas."       Compilation     en- 
shrining Druidic  thought,  332  ; 
Christian  persons  and  episodes 
figure  in,   333  ;    extract  from, 
in  catechism  form,  334,  33s 
Bardic     differs     from     popular 
conception  of  Danaan  deities, 
104 
Barrow,  The  River.    Visited  by 

mac  Cecht,  175 
Bar'uch.     A    lord    of    the    Red 
Branch ;  meets  Naisi  and  Deir- 
dre    on    landing    in     Ireland, 
199  ;       persuades     Fergus     to 
feast  at  his  house,  199  ;  dun,  on 
the  Straits  of  Moyle,  251 
Bavb  (bay v).    Calatin's  daughter  ; 
puts    a    spell    of    straying    on 
Niam,  230 
Bealchu    (bay'al-koo).      A   Con- 
nacht     champion ;     rescue    of 
Conall  by,  244  ;    slain  by  sons 
owing  to  a  stratagem  of  Conall' s, 
245  ;   Conall  slays  sons  of,  245 
Bebo.'  Wife  of  Iubdan,  King  of 

Wee  Folk,  247 
Bed'wyr  (bed-weer).  Equivalent, 
Sir  Bedivere.     One  of  Arthur's 
servitors       who      accompanies 
424 


Kilhwch     on     his     quest     for 

Olwen,  388-392 
Belg^;.     One    of    three    peoples 

inhabiting  Gaul  when  Caesar's 

conquest  began,  58 
Beli.     Cymric     god     of     Death, 

husband   of  Don  ;   corresponds 

with  the  Irish  Bile,  348,  349  ; 

Lludd   and    Llevelys,    sons   of, 

385 

Bell,  Mr.  Arthur  Reference 
to  a  drawing  by,  showing  act 
of  stone-worship,  66 

Bel'tene.  One  of  the  names 
of  the  god  of  Death ;  first  of 
May  sacred  to,  133 

Ben  Bulben.  Dermot  of  the 
Love-spot  slain  by  the  wild 
boar  of,  123,  301,  302  ;  Dermot 
and  the  Boar  of,  290,  291 

Ben'digeid  Vran,  or  "Bran  the 
Blessed."  King  of  the  Isle  of 
the  Mighty  (Britain) ;  Mana- 
wyddan,  his  brother,  365  ; 
Bran  wen,  his  sister,  366  ;  gives 
Bran  wen  as  wife  to  Matholwch, 
366 ;  makes  atonement  for 
Evnissyen's  outrage  by  giving 
Matholwch  the  magic  cauldron, 
&c,  367,  368  ;  invades  Ireland 
to  succour  Branwen,  369,  372  ; 
the  wonderful  head  of,  371,  372 
Bertrand,  A.      See  pp.   55,  64, 

83 

Bile  (bil-ay).  One  of  the  names 
of  the  god  of  Death  (i.e.,  of 
the  underworld),  130;  father 
of  Miled,  1 30;  equivalent, 
Cymric  god  Beli,  husband  of 
Don,  348,  349 

Birog.  A  Druidess  who  assists 
Kian  to  be  avenged  on  Balor, 
in 

Black  Knight,  The.  Kymon 
and,    396 ;     Owain   and,    396- 

397 
Black     Sainglend     (sen'glend). 

Cuchulain's  last  horse;   breaks 

from  him,  232 
Blai.     Oisin's    Danaan    mother, 

282 
Blanid.     Wife  of  Curoi ;  sets  her 

love    on    Cuchulain,    228-229  ; 

her  death,  229 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Ble'heris.     A  Welsh  poet  iden- 
tical    with     Bledhericus,    men- 
tioned by  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
and    with    Breris,  quoted    by 
Thomas  of  Brittany,  342 
P  Blerwm,  Blerwm  "  (bleroom). 
Sound    made    by    Taliesin    by 
which  a  spell  was  put  on  bards 
at  Arthur's  court,  416 
Blodeuwedd,      or      "  Flower- 
Iace."      The      flower-wife      of 
Llew,  382,  383 
Boanna       (the      river      Boyne). 

Mother  of  Angus  Og,  121 
Book    of    Armagh.     References 

to,  104, 147 
Book  of  Caermarthen,  Black. 
Gwyn     ap     Nudd     figures     in 
poem  included  in,  353 
Book      of     the      Dun       Cow. 
Reference   to,    97  ;     Cuchulain 
makes  his  reappearance  legend 
of    Christian    origin    in,    238  ; 
"  Voyage  of  Maeldiin  "  is  found 
in,  309 
Book    of   Hergest,   The    Red. 
Forms  main  source  of  tales  in 
the   "  Mabinogion,"    344  ;     the 
story  of  Taliesin  not  found  in, 
412 
Book  of  Invasions.       Reference 

to,  106 
Book     of     Leinster.        Refer- 
ences to,  24,  85,  208 
Bov    the    Red.     King    of    the 
Danaans    of    Munster,    brother 
of    the     Dagda ;     searches    for 
maiden  of  Angus  Og's  dream, 
1 21-123  ;    goldsmith  of,  named 
Len,      123  ;      Aoife's      journey 
to,  with  her  step-children,  139, 
140 
Boyne,  The  River.     Angus  Og's 
palace    at,    121  ;     Angus    and 
Caer    at,    122  ;    Milesians    land 
in    estuary    of,    136;      Ethne 
loses    her    veil    of    invisibility 
while    bathing    in    river,    144  ; 
church,  Kill  Ethne,  on    banks 
of,  145 
Bran.     See  Bendigeid 
Branwen.     Sister  of  Bran,  366  ; 
given  in  marriage  to  Matholwch, 
366  ;    mother  of  Gwern,   368  ; 


degraded  because  of  Evnissyen's 
outrage,  369  ;  brought  to 
Britain,  372  ;  her  death  and 
burial  on  the  banks  of  the 
Alaw,  372 

Brea  (bray).  Battle  of,  refer- 
ence to  Finn's  death  at,  275 

Bregia.  Locality  of,  168  ;  the 
plains  of,  viewed  by  Cuchulain, 
193  ;  St.  Patrick  and  folk  of, 
282 

Breg'on.  Son  of  Miled,  father 
of  Ith,  130 ;  tower  of,  per- 
ceived by  Ith,  132 

Brenos  (Brian).  Under  this 
form,  was  the  god  to  whom 
the  Celts  attributed  their  vic- 
tories at  the  Allia  and  at 
Delphi,  126 

Bres.  1.  Ambassador  sent  to 
Firbolgs,  by  People  of  Dana, 
106 ;  slain  in  battle  of  Moytura, 
107.  2.  Son  of  Danaan  woman 
named  Eri,  chosen  as  King  of 
Danaan  territory  in  Ireland, 
107  ;  his  ill -government  and 
deposition,  107-108.  3.  Son 
of  Balor;  learns  that  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  sun  is  the 
face  of  Lugh  of  the  Long  Arm, 
123 

Bri  Leith  (bree  lay).  Fairy 
palace  of  Midir  the  Proud  at, 
in  Co.  Longford,  124;  Etain 
carried  to,  163 

Brian.  One  of  three  sons  of 
Turenn,  1 14 

Brian.  Equivalent,  Brenos. 
Son  of  Brigit  (Dana),  126 

Briccriu  of  the  Poisoned 
Tongue  (bric'roo).  Ulster  lord  ; 
causes  strife  between  Cuchulain 
and  Red  Branch  heroes  as  to 
Championship  of  Ireland,  195  • 
summons  aid  of  demon  named 
The  Terrible,  196 ;  his  sug- 
gestion for  carving  mac  Datho's 
boar,  243 
Bridge  of  the  Leaps.  Cuchu- 
lain at,  187;  Cuchulain  leaps,  188 
Brigindo.       Equivalents,    Brigit 

and  "  Brigantia,"  103 
Brigit    (g   as   in    "get").     Irish 
goddess    identical    with    Dana 

425 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


and  "  Brigindo,"  &c,  103,  126  ; 
daughter  of  the  god  Dagda, 
"  The  Good,"  103,  126;  Ecne, 
grandson  of,  103 
Britain.  See  Great  Britain.  Car- 
thaginian trade  with,  broken 
down  by  the  Greeks,  22  ; 
place-names  of,  Celtic  element 
in,  27  ;  under  yoke  of  Rome, 
35  ;  magic  indigenous  in,  62  ; 
votive  inscriptions  to  ^Esus, 
Teutates,  and  Taranus  found 
in,  86 ;  dead  carried  from 
Gaul  to,  131  ;  Ingcel,  son  of 
King  of,  169  ;  visit  of  Deme- 
trius to,  355  ;  Bran,  King  of, 
365  ;  Caradawc  rules  over 
in  his  father's  name,  369  ; 
Caswallan  conquers,  372 ;  the 
"  Third  Fatal  Disclosure  "    in, 

373 

Britan.  Nedimean  chief  who 
settled  in  Great  Britain  and 
gave  name  to  that  country,  102 

British  Isles.  Sole  relics  of 
Celtic  empire,  on  its  downfall, 
34 ;  Maev,  Grania,  Finda- 
bair,  Deirdre,  and  Boadicea, 
women  who  figure  in  myths  of, 

43 

Britons.  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth, 
like  Nennius,  affords  a  fantastic 
origin  for  the,  338 

Brittany.  Mane-er-H'oeck,  re- 
markable tumulus  in,  63 ; 
tumulus  of  Locmariaker  in, 
markings  on  similar  to  those 
on  tumulus  at  New  Grange, 
Ireland,  72  ;  symbol  of  the 
feet  found  in,  "jj  ;  book 
brought  from,  by  Walter,  Arch- 
deacon of  Oxford,  formed  basis 
of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's 
"  Historia  Regum  Britanias," 
337 ;  Arthurian  saga  in,  339, 
340 

Brogan.  St.  Patrick's  scribe, 
119,  290 

Brown  Bull.     See  Quelgny 

Brugh  na  Boyna  (broo-na- 
boyna).  Pointed  out  to  Cuchu- 
lain,  193 

Buddha.  Footprint  of,  found 
in   India  as   symbol,   77  ;     the 

426 


cross-legged,  frequent  occur- 
rence in  religious  art  of  the 
East  and  Mexico,  87 

Buic  (boo'ik).  Son  of  Banblai ; 
slain  by  Cuchulain,  211 

Burney's  "History  of  Music." 
Reference  to  Egyptian  legend 
in, 118 

Bury,  Professor.  Remarks  of, 
regarding  the  Celtic  world,  5  9 


Caer.  Daughter  of  Ethal  Anubal ; 
wooed  by  Angus  Og,  122,  123  ; 
her  dual  life,  122  ;  accepts 
the  love  of  Angus  Og,  122 

Caerleon  -  on  -  Usk.  Arthur's 
court  held  at,  337 

Cesar,  Julius.  Critical  account 
of  Gauls,  37  ;  religious  beliefs 
of  Celts  recorded  by,  51,  52  ; 
the  Belga?,  the  Celtae,  and  the 
Aquitani  located  by,  58  ; 
affirmation  that  doctrine  of 
immortality  fostered  by  Druids 
to  promote  courage,  81,  82  ;  cul- 
ture superintended  by  Druids, 
recorded  by,  84  ;  gods  of 
Aryan  Celts  equated  with  Mer- 
cury, Apollo,  &c,  by,  86 

Cair'bry.  Son  of  Cormac  mac 
Art,  father  of  Light  of  Beauty, 
304  ;  refuses  tribute  to  the 
Fianna,  305  ;  Clan  Bascna 
makes  war  upon,  305-308 

Caliburn  (Welsh  Caladvwlch). 
Magic  sword  of  King  Arthur, 
338.      See  Excalibur,  224,  note 

Cambren'sis,  Giral'dus.  Celts 
and, 21 

Campbell.  Version  of  battle  of 
Gowra,    in   his    "  The    Fians," 

305-307 
Car'adawc.     Son  of  Bran  ;   rules 
Britain  in  his  father's  absence, 

369 
Carell.     Reputed  father  of  Tuan, 

100 
Carpathians.     Earliest  home  of 

mountain   Celts  was   ranges   of 

the,  57 
Carthaginians.     Celts  conquered 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Spain  from,  21  ;  Greeks  break 
monopoly  of  trade  of,  with 
Britain  and  Spain,  22 

Cas'corach.  Son  of  a  minstrel 
of  the  Danaan  Folk;  and  St. 
Patrick,  119 

Castle  of  Wonders.  Peredur 
at,  405,  406 

Cas'wallan.  Son  of  Beli ;  con- 
quers Britain  during  Bran's 
absence,  372 

Cathbad.  Druid ;  wedded  to 
Maga,  wife  of  Ross  the  Red, 
181  ;  his  spell  of  divination 
overheard  by  Cuchulain,  185  ; 
draws  Deirdre's  horoscope,  197  ; 
casts  evil  spells  over  Naisi  and 
Deirdre,  200 

Catholic  Church.  Mediaeval  in- 
terdicts of,  46 

Cato,  M.  Porcius.  Observances 
of,  regarding  Gauls,  37 

Cauldron  of  Abundance.  See 
equivalent,  Stone  of  Abundance  ; 
also  see  Grail 

Celt^e.  One  of  three  peoples 
inhabiting  Gaul  when  Caesar's 
conquest  began,  58 

Celtchar  (kelt-yar).  Son  of 
Hornskin  ;  under  debility  curse, 
205 

Celtdom.  The  Golden  Age  of, 
in  Continental  Europe,  21 

Celtic.  Power,  diffusion  of, 
in  Mid-Europe,  26  ;  place- 
names  in  Europe,  27  ;  art- 
work relics,  story  told  by,  28  ; 
Germanic  words,  Celtic  ele- 
ment in,  32  ;  empire,  downfall 
of,  34  ;  weak  policy  of  peoples, 
44 ;  religion,  the,  46,  47  ; 
High  Kings,  traditional  burial- 
places  of,  69  ;  doctrine  of 
immortality,  origin  of  so-called 
"  Celtic,"  75,  76  ;  ideas  of 
immortality,  78-87  ;  deities, 
names  and  attributes  of,  86- 
88  ;  conception  of  death,  the,  89  ; 
culture,  five  factors  in  ancient, 
89,  90  ;  the  present-day  popu- 
lations, 91,  92  ;  cosmogony,  the, 
94,  95  ;  things,  "  Barddas  "  a 
work  not  unworthy  the  student 
of,  333 


Celtica.  Never  inhabited  by 
a  single  pure  and  homogeneous 
race,  18  ;  Greek  type  of  civi- 
lisation preserved  by,  22  ;  art 
of  enamelling  originated  in,  30  ; 
the  Druids  formed  the  sovran 
power  in,  46 ;  Brigit  (Dana)  most 
widely  worshipped  goddess  in, 
126 

Celts.  Term  first  found  in 
Hecataeus ;  equivalent,  Hyper- 
boreans, 17  ;  Herodotus  and 
dwelling-place  of,  17  ;  Aris- 
totle and,  17  ;  Hellanicus  of 
Lesbos  and,  17  ;  Ephorus  and, 
17  ;  Plato  and,  17  ;  their 
attack  on  Rome,  a  landmark 
of  ancient  history,  18  ;  de- 
scribed by  Dr.  T.  Rice  Holmes, 
18,  19;  dominion  of,  over  Mid- 
Europe,  Gaul,  Spain,  and  the 
British  Isles,  20 ;  their  place 
among  these  races,  20  ;  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  and,  21 ;  Spain  con- 
quered from  the  Carthaginians 
by,  2 1 ;  Northern  Italy  conquered 
from  the  Etruscans  by ,  2 1 ;  Vergil 
and,  21  ;  conquer  the  Illyrians, 
21  ;  alliance  with  the  Greeks, 
22 ;  conquests  of,  in  valleys 
of  Danube  and  Po,  23  ;  Alex- 
ander makes  compact  with, 
23  ;  national  oath  of,  24  ; 
welded  into  unity  by  Ambi- 
catus,  25  ;  defeat  Romans, 
26  ;  Germanic  peoples  and, 
26,  33  ;  decorative  motives 
derived  from  Greek  art,  29  ; 
art  of  enamelling  learnt  by 
classical  nations  from,  30  ; 
burial  rites  practised  by,  33  ; 
character,  elements  comprising, 
36 ;  Strabo's  description  of, 
39  ;  love  of  splendour  and 
methods  of  warfare,  40  ;  Poly- 
bius'  description  of  warriors  in 
battle  of  Clastidium,  41  ;  their 
influence  on  European  litera- 
ture and  philosophy,  49,  50  ; 
the  Religion  of  the,  51-93; 
ranges  of  the  Balkans  and 
Carpathians  earliest  home  of 
mountain,  57  ;  musical  ser- 
vices   of,    described    by   Heca- 

+27 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


tssus,  58  ;  Switzerland,  Bur- 
gundy, the  Palatinate,  Northern 
France,  parts  of  Britain,  &c, 
occupied  by  mountain,  58  ; 
origin  of  doctrine  of  immor- 
tality, 75  ;  idea  of  immortality 
and  doctrine  of  transmigration, 
80,  81  ;  the  present-day,  91, 
92  ;  no  non-Christian  con- 
ception of  origin  of  things,  94  ; 
victories  at  the  Allia  and  at 
Delphi  attributed  to  Brenos 
(Brian),  126;  true  worship  of, 
paid  to  elemental  forces  repre- 
sented by  actual  natural  pheno- 
mena, 147 
Cenchos.  Otherwise  The  Foot- 
less ;  related  to  Vitra,  the  God 
of  Evil  in  Vedantic  mythology, 

97 

Cer'idwen.  Wife  of  Tegid,  413  ; 
sets  Gwion  Bach  and  Morda 
to  attend  to  the  magic  caul- 
dron, 413 

Ceugant  (Infinity).  The  outer- 
most of  three  concentric  circles 
representing  the  totality  of 
being  in  the  Cymric  cosmogony, 
inhabited  by  God  alone,  334 

Chaillu, Du.  His  "Viking Age," 
72 

Champion  of  Ireland.  Test  at 
feast  of  Briccriu,  to  decide 
who  is  the,  195,  196;  Cuchulain 
proclaimed  such  by  demon  The 
Terrible,  196 

Charlemagne.  Tree-  and  stone- 
worship  denounced  by,  66 

Children  of  Lir.  Reference  to, 
121 

Chrestien  de  Troyes.  French 
poet,  influential  in  bringing 
the  Arthurian  saga  into  the 
poetic  literature  of  Europe, 
340,  341  ;  Gautier  de  Denain 
the  earliest  continuator  of, 
341  ;  variation  of  his  "  Le 
Chevalier  au  lion "  seen  in 
"  The  Lady  of  the  Fountain," 
394-399  ;  the  "  Tale  of  Enid 
and  Geraint ' '  based  on  ' '  Erec  ' ' 
of,  399  ;  Peredur  corresponds 
to  the  Perceval  of,  400  ;  his 
"  Conte  del  Graal,"  or  "  Per- 
428 


ceval  le  Gallois,"  404  ;  Manes- 
sier  a  continuator  of,  408 
Ch  risti an  .  Symbolism,  the  hand 
as  emblem  of  power  in,  65  ; 
faith,  heard  of  by  King  Cormac 
ere  preached  in  Ireland  by 
St.  Patrick,  69  ;  influences  in 
Ireland,  and  the  Milesian  myth, 
138  ;  ideas,  gathered  around 
Cuchulain  and  his  lord  King 
Conor  of  Ulster,  239,  240  ; 
pagan  ideals  contrasted  with, 
in  Oisin  dialogues,  288  ;  Myr- 
ddin  dwindles  under  influences, 

354 

Christianity.  Reference  to  con- 
version of  Ireland  to,  83  ; 
People  of  Dana  in  their  over- 
throw, and  attitude  of,  138  ; 
Cuchulain  summoned  from  Hell 
by  St.  Patrick  to  prove  truths 
of,  to  High  King  Laery,  239  ; 
effect  of.  on  Irish  literature, 
295,  296 

Chry'sostom,  Dion.  Testimony 
of,  to  power  of  the  Druids,  83 

Clan  Bascna.  One  of  the  divi- 
sions of  the  Fianna  of  Erin, 
252  ;  Cumhal,  father  of  Finn, 
chief  of,  255  ;  Cairbry  causes 
feud  between  Clan  Morna  and, 
305-308 

Clan  Calatin.  Sent  by  men  of 
Erin  against  Cuchulain,  215  ; 
Fiacha,  son  of  Firaba,  cuts 
off  the  eight -and-twenty  hands 
of,  216  ;  Cuchulain  slays,  216  ; 
the  widow  of,  gives  birth  to 
six  children  whom  Maev  has 
instructed  in  magic  and  then 
looses  against  Cuchulain,  228- 
233  ;  cause  Cuchulain  to  break 
his  geise,  231 

Clan  Morna.  One  of  the  divi- 
sions of  the  Fianna  of  Erin,  252  ; 
Lia  becomes  treasurer  to,  255; 
Cairbry  causes  feud  between 
Clan  Bascna  and,  305-308 

Clastid'ium.  Battle  of,  Polybius' 
description  of  behaviour  of  the 
Gaesati  in,  41 

Cleena.  A  Danaan  maiden  once 
living  in  Mananan's  country ; 
the  story  of,  127 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Clus'ium.  Siege  of,  Romans  play 
Celts  false  at,  25  ;  vengeance 
exacted  by  Celts,  26 

Coffey,  George.  His  work  on 
the  New  Grange  tumulus,  69 

Colloquy  of  the  Ancients. 
A  collection  of  tales  mentioning 
St.  Patrick  and  Cascorach,  119, 
281  ;   interest  of,  284-308 

Columba,  St.  Symbol  of  the 
feet  and,  77 

Comyn,  Michael.  Reference  to 
"  Lay  of  Oisin  in  the  Land  of 
Youth,"  by,  253,  276 

Conall  of  the  Victories. 
Member  of  Conary's  retinue  at 
Red  Hostel,  173  ;  Amorgin,  his 
father,  found  by  him  at  Teltin, 
176,  177  ;  shrinks  from  test 
re  the  Championship  of  Ireland, 
195,  196 ;  under  the  Debility 
curse,  205  ;  avenges  Cuchulain's 
death  by  slaying  Lewy,  233  ;  his 
' '  brain  ball ' '  causes  death  of 
Conor  mac  Nessa,  240,  241  ; 
mac  Datho's  boar  and,  243, 
244 ;  slays  Ket,  244 

Con  an  mac  Li  a.  Son  of  Lia, 
lord  of  Luachar ;  Finn  makes 
a  covenant  with,  258,  259 

Conan  mac  Morna  ;  otherwise 
the  Bald.  His  adventure  with 
the  Fairy  Folk,  259,  260  ;  he 
slays  Liagan,  260 ;  adventure 
with  the  Gilla  Dacar's  steed, 
293-295 

Con  ann.     Fomorian  king,  101 

Con'ary  Mor.  The  singing 
sword  of,  121  ;  the  legend  - 
cycle  of  the  High  King,  155- 
177  ;  descended  from  Etain 
Oig,  daughter  of  Etain,  164  ; 
Messbuachalla,  his  mother,  166, 
167  ;  Desa,  his  foster-father, 
167  ;  Ferlee,  Fergar,  and  Ferro- 
gan,  his  foster-brothers,  167  ; 
Nemglan  commands  him  go 
to  Tara,  168  ;  proclaimed 
King  of  Erin,  168  ;  Nemglan 
declares  his  geise,  168  ;  banish- 
ment of  his  foster-brothers, 
169;  lured  into  breaking  his 
geise,  1 70 ;  the  three  Reds 
and,    at    Da    Derga's    Hostel, 


170  ;  visited  by  the  Morrigan 
at  Da  Derga's  Hostel,  172  ; 
members  of  his  retinue  :  Cormac 
son  of  Conor,  warrior  mac 
Cecht,  Conary's  three  sons, 
Conall  of  the  Victories,  Duf- 
tach  of  Ulster,  173  ;  perishes 
of  thirst,  175 

Condwiramur.  A  maiden  wedded 
by  Parzival,  408 

Conn.  One  of  the  Children  of 
Lir,  142 

Connacht.  Ethal  Anubal, 
prince  of  the  Danaans  of, 
122  ;  Ailell  and  Maev,  mortal 
King  and  Queen  of,  Angus 
Og  seeks  their  help  in  efforts  to 
win  Caer,  122  ;  origin  of  name, 
1 54  ;  Cuchulain  makes  a  foray 
upon,  193,  194  ;  Cuchulain 
descends  upon  host  of,  under 
Maev,  209  ;  Ket  a  champion, 
241  ;  Queen  Maev  reigned  in, 
for  eighty -eight  years,  245 

Connla.  Son  of  Cuchulain  and 
Aifa,  190  ;  his  geise,  190  ;  Aifa 
sends  him  to  Erin,  190 ;  his 
encounters  with  the  men  of 
Ulster,  191  ;  slain  by  Cuchu- 
lain, 191,  192 

Connla's  Well.  Equivalent, 
Well  of  Knowledge.  Sinend's 
fatal  visit  to,  129 

Conor  mac  Nessa.  Son  of  Facht- 
na  and  Nessa  ;  proclaimed  King 
of  Ulster  in  preference  to 
Fergus,  1 80  ;  Cuchulain  brought 
up  at  court  of,  183  ;  grants 
arms  of  manhood  to  Cuchu- 
lain, 185  ;  while  at  a  feast 
on  Strand  of  the  Footprints  he 
descries  Connla,  190  ;  his  ruse 
to  put  Cuchulain  under  re- 
straint, 194 ;  Deirdre  and, 
195-200 ;  his  guards  seize 
Naisi  and  Deirdre,  201  ;  suffers 
pangs  of  the  Debility  curse,  205- 
221  ;  the  curse  lifted  from,  222  ; 
summons  Ulster  to  arms,  222  ; 
Christian  ideas  have  gathered 
about  end  of,  239,  240 ;  his 
death  caused  by  Conall's 
"brain  ball," 240, 24 1 ;  he  figures 
in  tale  entitled  "The  Carving 
429 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


of  mac  Datho's  Boar,"  241  ; 
sends  to  mac  Datho  for  his 
hound,  241 

Constantine.  Arthur  confers  his 
kingdom  on,  338 

"  Contb  del  Graal."    See  Grail 

Coran'ians.  A  demoniac  race 
called,  harass  land  of  Britain, 
385 

Corcady'na.  Landing  of  Ith 
and  his  ninety  warriors  at,  in 
Ireland,  1 31-136 

Cormac.  1.  Son  of  Art,  King  of 
Ireland  ;  story  of  burial  of,  69  ; 
historical  character,  225  ;  Finn 
and,  feasted  at  Rath  Grania, 
300.  2.  King  of  Ulster  ;  marries 
Etain  Oig,  166;  puts  her  away 
owing  to  her  barrenness,  166. 
3.  Son  of  Conor  mac  Nessa ; 
rallies  to  Maev's  foray  against 
Ulster,  205 

Coronation  Stone.  Now  at 
Westminster  Abbey,  is  the 
famous  Stone  of  Scone,  105  ; 
the  Lia  Fail  and,  105 

Corpre.  Poet  at  court  of  King 
Bres,  108 

Cosmogony.  i.  The  Celtic,  94, 
95.  2.  The  Cymric,  332-335  ; 
God  and  Cythrawl,  standing  for 
life  and  destruction,  in,  333 

Cotterill,  H.  B.  Quotation 
from  his  hexameter  version 
of  the  "  Odyssey,"  80 

Craf'tiny.  King       Scoriath's 

harper ;  sings  Moriath's  love- 
lay  before  Maon,  153  ;  dis- 
covers Maon's  secret  deformity, 

Cred'ne.  The  artificer  of  the 
Danaans,  117 

Creu'dylad  (Creiddylad). 

Daughter  of  Lludd ;  combat 
for  possession  of,  every  May- 
day, between  Gwythur  ap  Grei- 
dawl  and  Gwyn  ap  Nudd,  353, 
388 

Crimmal.  Rescued  by  his 
nephew,  Finn,  256 

Crom  Cruach  (crom  croo'ach). 
Gold  idol  (equivalent,  the 
Bloody  Crescent)  referred  to 
in    "  Book    of    Leinster,"    85  ; 

430 


worship    introduced    by    King 

Tiernmas,  149 
Cromlechs.     See  Dolmens,  53 
Crundchu    (crun'hoo).      Son    of 

Agnoman ;     Macha     comes     to 

dwell  with,  178 
Cuailgne.     See  Quelgny 

CUCHULAIN        (CUCHULLIN)       (COO- 

hoo'lin).  Ulster  hero  in  Irish 
saga,  41  ;  duel  with  Ferdia 
referred  to,  121  ;  Lugh,  the 
father  of,  by  Dectera,  123,  182  ; 
loved  and  befriended  by  goddess 
Morrigan,  126;  his  strange 
birth,  182  ;  earliest  name 
Setanta,  183  ;  his  inheritance, 
183  ;  his  name  derived  from 
the  hound  of  Cullan,  183,  184  ; 
claims  arms  of  manhood  from 
Conor,  185  ;  wooes  Emer,  185, 
186  ;  Laeg,  charioteer  of,  185  ; 
Skatha  instructs,  in  Land  of 
Shadows,  187-189;  overcomes 
Aifa,  190;  father  of  Connla  by 
Aifa,  190 ;  slays  Connla,  191, 
192  ;  returns  to  Erin,  193- 
194  ;  slays  Foill  and  his 
brothers,  194  ;  met  by  women 
of  Emania,  194  ;  leaps  "  the 
hero's  salmon  leap,"  195  ;  the 
winning  of  Emer,  195  ;  pro- 
claimed by  The  Terrible  the 
Champion  of  Ireland,  195,  196  ; 
places  Maev's  host  under  geise, 
207,  208  ;  slays  Orlam,  209  ; 
the  battle-frenzy  and  Has- 
tradh  of,  209,  210  ;  compact 
with  Fergus,  2 1 1  ;  the  Morrigan 
offers  love  to,  212  ;  threatens 
to  be  about  his  feet  in  bottom 
of  Ford,  212  ;  attacked  by 
the  Morrigan  while  engaged 
with  Loch,  213  ;  slays  Loch, 
213  ;  Ferdia  consents  to  go 
out  against,  216  ;  Ferdia  re- 
proached by,  216,  217  ;  their 
struggle,  217-221  ;  slays  Ferdia, 
220  ;  severely  wounded  by 
Ferdia,  220,  221  ;  roused  from 
stupor  by  sword-play  of  Fergus, 
224  ;  rushes  into  the  battle 
of  Garach,  224  ;  in  Fairyland, 
225-228  ;  loved  by  Fand,  226  ; 
the   vengeance  of  Maev  upon, 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


228-233  ;  other  enemies  of 
Ere,  and  Lewy  son  of  Curoi, 
228  ;  Blanid,  Curoi's  wife, 
sets  her  love  on,  228  ;  his 
madness,  229-231  ;  Bave  per- 
sonates Niam  before,  230  ; 
the  Morrigan  croaks  of  war 
before,  230 ;  Dectera  and 
Cathbad  urge  him  wait  for 
Conall  of  the  Victories  ere 
setting  forth  to  battle,  230 ; 
the  Washer  at  the  Ford  seen 
by,  231  ;  Clan  Calatin  cause 
him  to  break  his  geise,  231  ; 
finds  his  foes  at  Slieve  Fuad, 
232  ;  the  Grey  of  Macha 
being  mortally  wounded,  he 
takes  farewell  of,  232  ;  mor- 
tally wounded  by  Lewy,  232  ; 
his  remaining  horse,  Black 
Sainglend,  breaks  away  from, 
232  ;  Lewy  slays  outright,  233  ; 
his  death  avenged  by  Conall  of 
the  Victories,  233  ;  reappears 
in  later  legend  of  Christian 
origin  found  in  "  Book  of  the 
Dun  Cow,"  238,  239 ;  St. 
Patrick's  summons  from  Hell, 
238 

Cullan.  His  feast  to  King  Conor 
in  Quelgny,  183  ;  Cuchulain 
slays  his  hound,  183  ;  Cuchu- 
lain named  the  Hound  of, 
184;  his  daughter  declared 
responsible  for  Finn's  enchant- 
ment, 280 

Cumhal  (coo'al).  Chief  of  the 
Clan  Morna,  son  of  Trenmor, 
husband  of  Murna  of  the 
White  Neck,  the  father  of 
Finn,  255,  257  ;  slain  at 
battle  of  Knock,  255 

Cup-and-ring  Markings.  Mean- 
ing of,  in  connexion  with 
Megalithic  monuments,  no  light 
on,  67  ;  example  in  Dupaix' 
"  Monuments  of  New  Spain," 
68 ;  reproduction  in  Lord 
Kingsborough's  !?  Antiquities 
of  Mexico,"  68 

Cup  of  thb  Last  Supper. 
Identical  with  the  Grail,  406  ; 
equivalent,  the  Magic  Cauldron, 
411 


Cu roi  (coo'  roi ).  Father  of  Lewy , 
husband  of  Blanid,  228  ;  slain 
by  Cuchulain,  229 

Cuscrid.  Son  of  Conor  mac 
Nessa ;  under  Debility  curse, 
205  ;    mac  Datho's  boar  and, 

243 

Custenn'in.  Brother  of  Ys- 
paddaden  ;  assists  Kilhwch  in 
his  quest  for  Olwen,  389 

Cycle-s.  The,  of  Irish  legend, 
95  ;  the  Mythological,  95- 
145  ;  the  Ultonian,  178-251  ; 
Ossianic,  241-245  ;  certain 
stories  of  Ultonian,  not  centred 
on  Cuchulain,  246;  the  Ultonian, 
time  of  events  of  the,  2  52 ; 
the  Ossianic  and  Ultonian  con- 
trasted, 253-255 

Cymric.  i.  Peoples  ;  effect  of 
legends  of,  on  Continental 
poets,  50.  2.  Myths;  Druidic 
thought  enshrined  in  Llewellyn 
Sion's  "Barddas,"  edited  by 
by  J.  A.  Williams  ap  Ithel  for 
the  Welsh  MS.  Society,  332  ; 
cosmogony,  the,  333~335  ;  God 
and  Cythrawl  in,  333  ;  why 
so  little  of  Arthurian  saga 
heard  in,  344  ;  comparison 
between  Gaelic  and,  344-368 

Cythrawl.  God  and,  two  pri- 
mary existences  standing  for 
principles  of  destruction  and 
life,  in  Cymric  cosmogony,  333  ; 
realised  in  "  Annwn "  (the 
Abyss,  or  Chaos),  333 


D 


Da  Derga.  A  Leinster  lord  at 
whose  hostel  Conary  seeks 
hospitality,  170 ;  Conary' s 
retinue  at,  173  ;  Ingcel  and 
his  own  sons  attack  the  hostel, 

174  1 

Dagda.  "  The  Good,"  or  pos- 
sibly =  Doctus,  "  The  Wise." 
God,  and  supreme  head  of  the 
People  of  Dana,  father  of 
Brigit  (Dana),  103  ;  the  Caul- 
dron of  the,  one  of  the  treasures 
of  the  Danaans,  106 ;  the 
431 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


magical  harp  of,  118-119; 
father  and  chief  of  the  People 
of  Dana,  120,  121  ;  Kings  Mac- 
Cuill,  MacCecht,  and  MacGrene 
grandsons  of,  132  ;  portions 
out  spiritual  Ireland  between 
the  Danaans,  136 

Dalan.  A  Druid  who  discovers 
to  Eochy  that  Etain  has  been 
carried  to  mound  of  Bri-Leith, 
163 

Dalny.   Queen  of  Partholan,  96 

Daman.  The  Firbolg,  father  of 
Ferdia,  187 

Damayan'ti  and  Nala.  Hindu 
legend,  compared  with  story  of 
Etain,  163 

Dana.  The  People  of,  Nemedian 
survivors  who  return  to  Ire- 
land, 102  ;  literal  meaning  of 
Tuatha  De  Danann,  103  ;  equi- 
valent Brigit,  103,  126  ;  name 
of  "  gods  "  given  to  the  People 
of,  by  Tuan  mac  Carell,  104  ; 
Milesians  conquer  the  People  of, 
104  ;  origin  of  People  of ,  accord- 
ing to  Tuan  mac  Carell,  105  ; 
cities  of  Falias,  Gorias,  Finias, 
and  Murias,  105  ;  treasures  of 
the  People  of,  105,  106  ;  the 
Firbolgs  and  the  People  of, 
106-119;  gift  of  Faery  (i.e., 
skill  in  music)  the  prerogative 
of,  119;  daughter  of  the  Dagda 
and  the  greatest  of  Danaan 
goddesses,  126  ;  Brian  (ancient 
form  Brenos),  Iuchar,  and 
Iucharba,  her  sons,  126  ;  Fir- 
bolgs and  the  People  of,  137; 
equivalent  Don,  Cymric  mother- 
goddess,  348,  349 

Dan'aan-s.  Send  to  Balor  refus- 
ing tribute,  113  ;  their  en- 
counter with  the  Fomorians, 
117  ;  power  of,  exercised  by 
spell  of  music,  118;  account  of 
principal  gods  and  attributes 
of,  1 19-145  ;  reference  to  their 
displacement  in  Ireland  by 
Milesians,  1 30  ;  kings,  Ireland 
ruled  by  three,  MacCuill,  Mac- 
Cecht, and  MacGrene,  132  ; 
the  three  kings  welcome  Ith  to 
Ireland,  133  ;   dwell  in  spiritual 

432 


Ireland,  136  ;  myth,  the  mean- 
ing of,  137  ;  the,  after  the 
Milesian  conquest,  146,  147  ; 
Donn  son  of  Midir  at  war  with, 
285;  relations  of  the  Church 
with,  very  cordial,  286 

Danes.  Irish  monuments  plun- 
dered by  Danes,  69 

Danube.  Sources  of,  place  of 
origin  of  Celts,  19,  56 

Dara.  Son  of  Fachtna,  owner  of 
Brown  Bull  of  Quelgny,  202  ; 
Maev's  request  for  loan  of 
Brown  Bull,  204 

Dark,  The.  Druid ;  changes  Saba 
into  a  fawn,  267  ;  his  further 
ill-treatment  of,  268,  269 

Dead,  Land  of.  The  Irish 
Fairyland,  96 ;  equivalent, 
"Spain,"  102 

Death.  The  Celtic  conception 
of,  89 ;  names  of  Balor  and 
Bile  occur  as  god  of,  1 30 

Debility  of  the  Ultonians, 
The.  Caused  by  Macha's  curse, 
179,  180  ;  manifested  on  occa- 
sion of  Maev's  famous  cattle- 
raid  of  Quelgny  (Tain  Bo 
Cuailgne'),  180 

Decies.  Son  of  King  of  the, 
wooes  Light  of  Beauty  (Sgeimh 
Solais),  304 

Dec'tera.  Mother  of  Cuchulain 
by  Lugh,  123  ;  daughter  of 
Druid  Cathbad,  182;  her  appear- 
ance to  Conor  mac  Nessa  after 
three  years'  absence,  182  ;  her 
gift  of  a  son  to  Ulster,  Cuchu- 
lain, by  Lugh,  182 

Dee,  The  River.  Now  the  Ford 
of  Ferdia,  211 

Deirdre  (deer'dree).  Daughter 
of  Felim,  196  ;  Druid  Cathbad 
draws  her  horoscope,  197  ; 
Conor  decides  to  wed  when  of 
age,  197  ;  nursed  by  Levarcam^ 
197  ;  her  love  for  Naisi,  198  j 
carried  off  by  Naisi,  198  ; 
returns  with  Naisi  to  Ireland, 
198-200  ;  forced  to  wed  Conor, 
she  dashes  herself  against  a 
rock  and  is  killed,  201  ;  the  tales 
of  Grania  and,  compared,  296- 
304 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Deities.  The  Celtic,  Caesar  on, 
87,  88  ;  popular  and  bardic 
conception  of  Danaan,  104 

Demetrius.  Visit  to  Britain  of, 
355  ;  mentions  island  where 
"  Kronos  "  was  imprisoned  in 
sleep  while  Briareus  kept  watch 
over  him,  355 

Demna.  Otherwise  Finn.  Birth 
of,  255 

Deo'ca.  A  princess  of  Munster ; 
Children  of  Lir  and,  142 

Dermot  MacKerval.  Rule  of, 
in  Ireland,  and  the  cursing  of 
Tara,  47,  48  ;  arrests  and  tries 
Hugh  Guairy,  48  ;  dream  of 
wife  of,  48 

Dermot  of  the  Love  Spot  (Der- 
mot O'Dyna).  Follower  of  Finn 
mac  Cumhal,  lover  of  Grania, 
bred  up  with  Angus  at  palace 
on  Boyne,  123  ;  the  typical 
lover  of  Irish  legend,  123  ; 
slain  by  wild  Boar  of  Ben 
Bulben,  123,  301,  302  ;  friend 
of  Finn's,  261  ;  described  as  a 
Gaelic  Adonis,  290  ;  Donn, 
father  of,  290  ;  Roc  and,  290, 
291  ;  how  Dermot  got  the 
Love  Spot,  292  ;  adventure 
with  Gilla  Dacar's  steed,  293- 
295  ;  fight  with  the  Knight  of 
the  Well,  294  ;  love-story  of 
Grania  and,  296-304 

Derryvar'agh,  Lake.  Aoife's 
cruelty  to  her  step-children  at, 
139-142 

Desa.  Foster-father  of  Conary 
Mor,  167 

Dewy-Red.  Horse  of  Conall  of 
the  Victories,  233 

Dialogues.  Reference  to  Oisin- 
and-Patrick  and  Keelta-and- 
Patrick,  289 

Diancecht  (dee'an-kecht).  Phy- 
sician to  the  Danaans,  108 

Dineen's  Irish  Dictionary. 
Reference  to,  164,  165 

Dinnsenchus  (din-shen'cus).  An- 
cient tract,  preserved  in  the 
"  Book  of  Leinster,"  85 

Din'odig.  Cantrev  of,  over  which 
Llew  and  Blodeuwedd  reigned, 
382,  383 


Dinrigh  (din'ree).  Maon  slays 
Co  vac  at,  153 

Diodor'us  Sic'ulus.  A  contem- 
porary of  Julius  Czesar ;  de- 
scribes Gauls,  41,  42  ;  Pytha- 
goras and, 80 

Dis.   Pluto,  equivalent,  88 

Dithor'ba.  Brother  of  Red  Hugh 
and  Kimbay,  slain  by  Macha, 
1 5 1  ;  five  sons  of,  taken  captive 
by  Macha,  151,  152 

Diur'an  the  Rhymer.  German 
and,  companions  of  Maeldun  on 
his  wonderful  voyage,  313  ; 
returns  with  piece  of  silver  net, 
331 

Dodder,  The  River,  175 

Dolmens  Cromlechs,  tumuli 
and,  explanation  of,  53 

Don  (o  as  in  "  bone  ").  A 
Cymric  mother-goddess,  repre- 
senting the  Gaelic  Dana,  348, 
349  ;  Penardun,  a  daughter 
of,  349  ;  Gwydion,  son  of,  349  ; 
genealogy  set  forth,  350 

Donn.  i.  Mac  Midir,  son  of  Midir 
the  Proud,  285.  2.  Father  of 
Dermot ;  gives  his_  son  to  be 
nurtured  by  Angus  Og,  290 

Donnybrook.  Da  Derga's  hostel 
at,  170 

Doocloone.  Ailill  slain  in  church 
of,  310  ;   Maeldun  at,  311 

Dowth.    Tumulus  of,  74 

Druidism.  Its  existence  in 
British  Isles,  Gaul,  &c,  82  ; 
magical  rites  of,  belief  in  sur- 
vived in  early  Irish  Chris- 
tianity, 83 

Druids.  Doctrines  of,  ^7,  39  ; 
regarded  as  intermediaries  be- 
tween God  and  man,  42  ;  the 
sovran  power  in  Celtica,  46 ; 
suppressed  by  Emperor  Tibe- 
rius, 62  ;  no  Aryan  root  for 
the  word  yet  discovered,  82  ; 
testimony  of  Dion  Chrysostom 
to  the  power  of  the,  83  ;  reli- 
gious, philosophic,  and  scien- 
tific culture  superintended  by, 
record  of  Caesar  regarding,  84  ; 
cosmogonic  teaching  died  with 
their  order,  95 

Dublin.       Conary   goes    toward, 

E  433 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


167  ;  Conary's  foster-brothers 
land  at,  for  raiding  purposes, 
169 

Dupaix.  Reference  to  cup-and- 
ring  markings  in  book  "Monu- 
ments of  New  Spain,"  68 

Dyfed.  Pryderi  and  Manawyd- 
dan  at,  374  ;  Gwydion  and 
Gilvaethwy  at,  379 

Dylan  ("Son  of  the  Wave"). 
Son  of  Arianrod  ;  his  death- 
groan  the  roar  of  the  tide  at 
mouth  of  the  river  Conway,  380 


Eagle  of  Gwern  Abwy,  The, 
392 

Eber  Donn  (Brown  Eber).  Mile- 
sian lord  ;  his  brutal  exultation 
and  its  sequel,  136;  reference 
to,  as  one  of  Milesian  leaders, 
148 

Eber  Finn  (Fair  Eber).  One  of 
the  Milesian  leaders,  148  ;  slain 
by  Eremon,  148 

Ecne  (ec'nay).  The  god  whose 
grandmother  was  Dana,   103 

Egypt-ian.  The  ship  symbol  in 
the  sepulchral  art  of,  75  ;  Feet 
of  Osiris,  symbol  of  visitation, 
in,  77  ;  ideas  of  immortality, 
78-87  ;  human  sacrifices  in, 
abolished  by  Amasis  I.,  86 

Eis'irt.  Bard  to  King  of  Wee 
Folk,  247  ;  his  visit  to  King 
Fergus  in  Ulster,  247 

Elphin.  Son  of  Gwyddno  ;  finds 
Taliesin,  414 ;  his  boast  of 
wife  and  bard  at  Arthur's  court, 
415  ;   the  sequel,  415-417 

Em'ain  Mach'a.  The  Morrigan 
passes  through,  to  warn  Cuchu- 
lain,i27  ;  founding  of,  with  reign 
of  Kimbay,  1 50  ;  equivalent, 
the  Brooch  of  Macha,  150; 
Macha  compels  five  sons  of 
Dithorba  to  construct  ramparts 
and  trenches  of,  151,  152  ; 
appearance  of  Dectera  in  fields 
of,  182  ;  Cuchulain  drives  back 
to,  186  ;  news  of  Cuchulain's 
battle-fury    brought    to,    194  ; 

434 


Fergus  returns  to,  201  ;  boy 
corps  at,  go  forth  to  help 
Cuchulain,  214;  Ulster  men 
return  to,  with  great  glory,  225  ; 
Conall's  "  brain  ball  "  laid  up 
at,  240 

Ema'nia.  Women  of,  meet  Cuchu- 
lain, 194  ;  sacrifice  of  boy 
corps  of,  avenged  by  Cuchu- 
lain, 214  ;  Cuchulain  takes 
farewell  of  womenfolk  of,  231. 
See  Emain  Macha 

Emer.  Daughter  of  Forgall ; 
wooed  by  Cuchulain,  185-186; 
Cuchulain  seeks  and  carries  off, 
195;  becomes  Cuchulain's  wife, 
195  ;  learns  of  the  tryst  be- 
tween Cuchulain  and  Fand,  226, 
228  ;  Cuchulain  sees  her  corpse 
in  his  madness,  230 

Enamelling.     Celts  and  art  of,  30 

Encyclopedia  Britannica.  Ar- 
ticle on  Arthurian  saga  in,  341 

Enid.  The  tale  of  Geraint  and, 
399,  400 

Eochy  (yeo'hee).  1.  Son  of  Ere, 
Firbolg  king,  husband  of  Taltiu, 
or  Telta,  103.  2.  King  of  Ire- 
land ;  reference  to  appearance 
of  Midir  the  Proud  to,  on  the 
Hill  of  Tara,  124;  High  King 
of  Ireland,  wooes  and  marries 
Etain,  157,  158  ;  Midir  appears 
to,  and  challenges  to  play  chess, 
161,  162 

Eph'orus.  Celts  and,  17,  36 

Erc.  King  of  Ireland,  Cuchu- 
lain's foe,  228-233  ;  mortally 
wounds  the  Grey  of  Macha, 
232 

Er'emon.  First  Milesian  king  of 
all  Ireland,  143,  144,  148 

Eri.  Mother  of  King  Bres,  107- 
108  ;  reveals  father  of  Bres 
as  Elatha,  108 

Erinn  (Erin).  See  Eriu,  132  ; 
reference  to  High -Kingship  of, 
152 

Eriu.  Wife  of  Danaan  king  Mac- 
Grene,  132  ;  dative  form, 
Erinn,  poetic  name  applied  to 
Ireland,  132 

Erris  Bay.  The  Children  of  Lir 
at,  141,  142 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Et'ain.  Second  bride  of  Midir 
the  Proud,  156;  transformed 
by  Fuamnach  into  a  butterfly, 
156;  driven  by  a  magic  tem- 
pest into  the  fairy  palace  of 
Angus,  156;  again  the  magic 
tempest  drives  her  forth,  156; 
swallowed  by  Etar,  and  reap- 
pears as  a  mortal  child,  156, 
1 57  ;  visited  by  Eochy,  the 
High  King,  who  wooes  and 
makes  her  his  wife,  157,  158  ; 
the  desperate  love  of  Ailill  for, 
1 58-160 ;  Midir  the  Proud 
comes  to  claim,  as  his  Danaan 
wife,  160-163  ;  recovered  by 
Eochy,  163 

Etain  Oig.  Daughter  of  Etain, 
163  ;  King  Conary  Mor  de- 
scended from,  164  ;  married 
Cormac,  King  of  Ulster,  165  ; 
put  away  owing  to  barrenness, 
166  ;  cowherd  of  Eterskel  cares 
for  her  one  daughter,  166 

Et'ar.    Mother  of  Etain,  1  57 

Eterskel.  King  of  Ireland,  whose 
cowherd  cares  for  Messbua- 
challa,  166  ;  on  his  death  he 
is  succeeded  by  Conary  Mor, 
167-169 

Eth'al  A'nubal.  Prince  of 
Danaans  of  Connacht,  father 
of  Caer,  122 

Ethlinn,  or  Ethnea.  Daughter 
of  Balor,  no  ;  gives  her  love 
to  Kian,  1 1 1  ;  gives  birth  to 
three  sons,  1 1 1  ;  one  son, 
Lugh,  112,  182;  belongs  to 
Finn's  ancestry,  255 

Ethne.   The  tale  of,  142-145 

Etruscans.  Celts  conquer  Nor- 
thern Italy  from,  21 

Europe.  Seeds  of  freedom  and 
culture  in,  kept  alive  by  Cel- 
tica,  22  ;  diffusion  of  Celtic 
power  in  Mid-,  26 ;  Celtic 
place-names  in,  27  ;  what  it 
owes  to  Celts,  49  ;  western 
lands  of,  dolmens  found  in,  53 

Evniss'yen.  Son  of  Eurosswyd 
and  Penardun,  366  ;  mutilates 
horses  of  Matholwch,  367  ; 
atonement  made  by  Bran  for 
his   outrage,    367,    368  ;     slays 


the  warriors  hidden  in  the  meal- 

bags,   370  ;    dies  in  the  magic 

cauldron,  371 
Evrawc.     Father  of  Peredur,  401 
Evric.       Farmer    who    befriends 

Fionuala     and      her     brothers, 

141 
Excalibur.     See   Caliburn,    338, 

and  note,  p.  224 


Fabii.      Romans  elect  as  military 

tribunes,  25 
Fab'ius   Ambust'us.      Treachery 

of  three  sons  of,  against  Celts, 

25 

Facht'na.  The  giant,  King  of 
Ulster,  180 ;  Nessa,  wife  of, 
1 80  ;  father  of  Conor,  1 80  ; 
succeeded  at  death  by  his  half- 
brother,  Fergus,  180 

Fair  Mane.  Woman  who  nur- 
tured many  of  the  Fianna,  262 

Fairy  Folk.  Equivalent,  Sidh; 
(shee).  The  tumulus  at  New 
Grange  (Ireland)  regarded  as 
dwelling-place  of,  69  ;  the 
Coulin  overheard  from,  119; 
Conary  Mor  lured  by,  into 
breaking  his  geise,  170  ;  seal 
all  sources  of  water  against 
mac  Cecht,  175,  176;  Fergus 
mac  Leda  and,  246-249;  Conan 
mac  Morna  and,  259,  260 ; 
Keelta  and  the,  266 ;  Gwyn 
ap  Nudd,  King  of  Welsh  (Tyl- 
wyth  Teg),  353 

Fairyland.  Land  of  the  Dead, 
96  ;  Cleena  swept  back  to,  by 
a  wave,  127  ;  Connla's  Well  in, 
129  ;  war  carried  on  against, 
by  Eochy,  who  at  last  recovers 
his  wife,  Etain,  163  ;  Cuchu- 
lain  in,  225-228  ;  Laeg's  visit 
to,  226  ;  Fergus  mac  Leda  and, 
246-249 ;  tales  of  the  Fianna 
concerned  with,  252  ;  Oisin's 
journey  to,  272  ;  the  rescue  of, 
by  Finn  and  the  Fianna,  294, 
295  ;   rescue  of,  by  Pwyll,  357 

Fal'ias,  The  City  of  (see  Dana), 
105,  106 


435 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Fand.  The  Pearl  of  Beauty, 
wife  of  Mananan  ;  sets  her  love 
on  Cuchulain,  226 ;  returns 
to  her  home  with  Mananan, 
227 

Faylinn.  The  Land  of  the  Wee 
Folk,  246  ;  Iubdan,  King  of 
246 

Fedel'ma.  Prophetess  from 
Fairy  Mound  of  Croghan,  ques- 
tioned by  Maev,  205,  206  ; 
her  vision  of  Cuchulain,  206 

Feet  Symbol,  The  Two,  77 

Felim.  Son  of  Dall,  father  of 
Deirdre,  196,  197  ;  his  feast 
to  Conor  and  Red  Branch 
heroes,  196,  197 

Fer'amorc.  The  kingdom  of, 
over  which  Scoriath  is  king ; 
Maon  taken  to,  153 

Fercart'na.  The  bard  of  Curoi, 
229 ;  leaps  with  Blanid  to 
death,  229 

Ferdia.  Duel  between  Cuchulain 
and,  referred  to,  121  ;  son  of 
the  Firbolg,  Daman,  friend  oc 
Cuchulain,  187,  188  ;  rallies  to 
Maev's  foray  against  Ulster, 
204  ;  consents  to  Maev's  en- 
treaty that  he  should  meet  and 
fight  his  friend  Cuchulain,  216; 
the  struggle,  217-221  ;  Cuchu- 
lain slays,  220  ;  buried  by  Maev, 
221 

Fergus.  Nemedian  chief  who 
slays  Conann,  102 

Fergus  the  Great.  Son  of  Ere  ; 
stone  of  Scone  used  for  crown- 
ing, 105  ;  ancestor  of  British 
Royal  Family,  105 

Fergus  mac  Leda.  The  Wee 
Folk  and,  246-249 ;  visited 
by  Eisirt,  King  of  Wee  Folk's 
bard,  247  ;  visited  by  Iubdan, 
King  of  Wee  Folk,  247-249  ; 
the  blemish  of  Fergus,  249 

Fergus  mac  Roy.  Son  of  Roy, 
Fachtna's  half-brother ;  suc- 
ceeds to  kingship  of  Ulster,  180  ; 
loves  Nessa,  180 ;  sent  to  in- 
vite return  of  Naisi  and  Deirdre 
to  Ireland,  198-200 ;  the  re- 
bellion of,  201-251  ;  Maev  and, 
202  ;  compact  with  Cuchulain, 
436 


211;     reputed    author    of    the 

"Tain,"   234;    slain  by   Ailell, 

245 
Fergus  Truelips.    Rescued  from 

enchanted  cave  by  Goll,  278 
Ferguson,  Sir  Samuel.    Quoted, 

46,  234-238  ;    his  description  of 

King  Fergus  mac  Leda's  death, 

249-251 
Feryllt.     Welsh  name  of  Vergil, 

413 
Fiacha  (fee'ach-a).  Son  of 
Firaba ;  cuts  off  eight-and- 
twenty  hands  of  the  Clan 
Calatin,  216 ;  gives  spear  to 
Finn,  258 

Fiachra  (fee'ach-ra).  One  of  the 
Children  of  Lir,  142 

Fial  (fee'al).  Sister  of  Emer, 
186 

Fianna  (fee'anna)  of  Erin,  The. 
Explanation  of  this  Order,  252  ; 
Clan  Bascna  and  Clan  Morna, 
clans  comprising  the,  252  ; 
Goll,  captain  of  the,  257  ;  Finn 
made  captain  of  the,  258  ; 
tests  of,  264,  265  ;  tales  of 
the,  told  by  Keelta,  283  ; 
attempt  in  vain  to  throw 
the  wether,  291,  292  ;  the  chase 
of  the  Hard  Gilly  and,  292-295  ; 
rescue  of  Fairyland  by,  294, 
295  ;  tribute  refused  by  Cairbry, 
305  ;  almost  all  the,  slain  in 
battle  of  Gowra,  306 

Fians.     See  Fianna 

Fin'choom.  Dectera's  sister, 
foster-mother  to  Cuchulain,  182, 
183  ;  mother  of  Conall,  243 

Finchor'y,  Island  of,   115,  116 

Find'abair  of  the  Fair  Eye- 
brows. Daughter  of  Maev ; 
offered  to  Ferdia  if  he  will 
meet  and  fight  Cuchulain, 
216 

Fin'egas.  Druid,  of  whom  Finn 
learns  poetry  and  science,  256 

Fingen.  Conor  mac  Nessa's 
physician ;  his  pronouncement 
re  Conall' s  "brain  ball"  by 
which  Ket  has  wounded  the 
king,  240 

Fin'ias.  The  City  of  (see  Dana), 
105,  106 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Finn     mac    Cumhal    (finn    mac 
coo'al).     Fothad  slain  in  a  battle 
with,  8 1  ;  Dermot  of  the  Love 
Spot  a  follower   of,    123;    Os- 
sianic     Cycle     clusters     round, 
252  ;    Oisin,   son  of,   252  ;     the 
coming   of,    255  ;     his    Danaan 
ancestry,   255  ;     Murna   of  the 
White  Neck  his  mother,  Cum- 
hal  his   father,    255  ;      Demna 
his    original    name,    255  ;     put 
out   to   nurse,    256;     origin   of 
name    Finn    (Fair   One),    256; 
slays  Lia,  256  ;    taught  poetry 
and  science  by  Druid  Finegas, 
256  ;     eats   of    the   Salmon    of 
Knowledge,   256;    slays  goblin 
at    Slieve    Fuad,    258  ;     made 
captain  of  the  Fianna  of  Erin, 
258  ;    makes  a  covenant  with 
Conan,    258,    259  ;     Dermot  of 
the  Love  Spot,  friend  of,  261  ; 
weds  Grania,   261  ;    Oisin,  son 
of,  261  ;  Geena  mac  Luga,  one 
of   the   men   of,    262  ;    teaches 
the  maxims  of    the  Fianna  to 
mac  Luga,  262,  263  ;  Murna,  the 
mother  of,  266 ;  Bran  and  Sko- 
lawn,  hounds  of,  266-269  ;  weds 
Saba,  267  ;    Saba   taken   from, 
by   enchantment,    268  ;     Niam 
of  the  Golden  Hair  comes  to, 
270  ;     experience    in    the    en- 
chanted cave,  277,  278  ;    Goll 
rescues,    277,    278  ;     gives    his 
daughter    Keva   to   Goll,   278  ; 
"  The  Chase  of  Slievegallion  " 
and,   278-280  ;     "  The  Masque 
of,"  by  Mr.  Standish  O'Grady, 
280,  281  ;   the  Hard  Gilly  (Gilla 
Dacar)  and,  292-295  ;     Grania 
and,  296-304  ;  bewails  Oscar's 
death,     306  ;     in    all    Ossianic 
literature    no    complete    narra- 
tive of  death  of,  308  ;   tradition 
says  he   lies   in   trance   in   en- 
chanted cave,  like  Kaiser  Bar- 
barossa,  308 
Fintan.     The  Salmon  of  Know- 
ledge,    of     which    Finn    eats, 
256 
Fionuala  (fee-un-oo'la).     Daugh- 
ter of  Lir  and  step-daughter  of 
Aoife,  139;  Aoife's  transforma- 


tion into  swans  of  Fionuala  and, 
her  brothers,  140-142 

Fir-Bolg.    See  Firbolgs,  103 

Firbolgs.  Nemedian  survivors 
who  return  to  Ireland,  102  ; 
name  signifies  "  Men  of  the 
Bags,"  102,  103  ;  legend  re- 
garding, 102,  103  ;  the  Fir- 
Bolg,  Fir-Domnan,  and  Galioin 
races  generally  designated  as 
the,  103  ;  the  Danaans  and 
the,  106-119,  137 

Fir-Dom'nan.     See  Firbolgs,  103 

Flegetan'is.  A  heathen  writer, 
whose  Arabic  book  formed  a 
source  for  poet  Kyot,  408 

Fohla  (fo'la).  Wife  of  Danaan 
King  mac  Cecht,  132 

Foill.  A  son  of  Nechtan,  slain 
by  Cuchulain,  194 

Foll'aman.  Conor's  youngest 
son ;  leads  boy  corps  against 
Maev,  214 

Fomor'ians.  A  misshapen,  violent 
people  representing  the  powers 
of  evil  ;  their  battle  with  the 
Partholanians,  97  ;  Nemedians 
in  constant  warfare  with,  10 1  ; 
their  tyranny  over  country  of 
Ireland,  109  ;  encounter  be- 
tween the  Danaans  and,  117, 
118,  137 

Forbay.  Son  of  Conor  mac 
Nessa  ;   slays  Maev,  245 

Ford  of  Ferdia.  Place  on  the 
River  Dee;  one  champion  at 
a  time  to  meet  Cuchulain  at, 
211  ;  the  struggle  at,  between 
Cuchulain  and  Ferdia,  216- 
220 

Forgall  the  Wily.  The  lord  of 
Lusca,  father  of  Emer,  185  ; 
meets  his  death  in  escaping 
from  Cuchulain,  195 

Foth'ad.  King,  slain  in  battle 
with  Finn  mac  Cumhal  ;  wager 
as  to  place  of  death  made  by 
Mongan,  81 

Frag'arach  ("The  Answerer"). 
Terrible  sword  brought  by 
Lugh  from  the  Land  of  the 
Living,  1 1 3 
France.  Place-names  of,  Celtic 
element  in,  27 

437 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Fuamnach  (foo'am-nach).  Wife 
of  Midir  the  Proud,  156;  her 
jealousy  of  a  second  bride, 
Etain,  156;  transforms  Etain 
into  a  butterfly  by  magic  art, 
156-158;  Midir  tells  of  her 
death,  160 


Gae  Bolg.  The  thrust  of,  taught 
by  Skatha  to  Cuchulain,  188, 
189;  Cuchulain  slays  his  son 
Connla  by,  192  ;  Cuchulain 
slays  Loch  by,  213  ;  Cuchu- 
lain slays  Ferdia  by,  220 

Gaelic.  Cymric  language  and, 
35  ;  effect  of  legends  of,  on 
Continental  poets,  50  ;  bards' 
ideas  of  chivalric  romance  anti- 
cipated by,  246;  Cymric  legend 
and,  compared,  344-419  ;  Con- 
tinental romance  and,  345 

Gaels.  Sacrifices  of  children  by, 
to  idol  Crom  Cruach,  85 

G^esat'i.  Celtic  warriors,  in  battle 
of  Clastidium,  41 

Galatia.  Celtic  state  of,  St. 
Jerome's  attestation  re,  34 

Gal'ioin.     See  Firbolgs,  103 

Galles,  M.  Rene.  Tumulus  of 
Mane-er-H'oeck    described    by, 

63 

Garach.  Mac  Roth  views  Ulster 
men  on  Plain  of,  223  ;  the 
battle  of,  223-225 

Gaul-s.  Under  Roman  yoke, 
35  ;  Caesar's  account  of,  37  ; 
described  by  Diodorus  Siculus, 
41,  42  ;  described  by  Am- 
mianus  Marcellinus,  42  ;  Dr. 
Rice  Holmes  describes,  43  ; 
commerce  on  Mediterranean, 
Bay  of  Biscay,  &c,  of,  44  ;  re- 
ligious beliefs  and  rites  de- 
scribed by  Julius  Caesar,  51, 
52  ;  human  sacrifices  in,  84  ; 
votive  inscriptions  to  iEsus, 
Teutates,  and  Taranus,  found 
in,  86,  87 ;  Dis,  or  Pluto,  a 
most  notable  god  of,  88  ;  dead 
carried  from,  to  Britain,  131  ; 
Maon  taken  to,  153 

438 


"Gaulois,  La  Religion  des." 
Reference  to,  55,  83 

Gauvain  (Sir  Gawain).  Fellow- 
knight  with  Perceval,  406 

Gavr'inis.    Chiromancy  at,  64 

Geena  mac  Luga.  Son  of  Luga, 
one  of  Finn's  men,  262  ;  Finn 
teaches  the  maxims  of  the 
Fianna  to,  262,  263 

Geis-e  (singular,  gaysh  ;  plural, 
gaysha).  The  law  of  the, 
164  ;  meaning  of  this  Irish 
word  explained,  164  ;  instances  : 
Dermot  of  the  Love  Spot, 
Conary  Mor,  and  Fergus  mac 
Roy,  165  ;  Grania  puts  Der- 
mot under,  298 

Gelon.  Defeat  of  Hamilcar  by, 
at  Himera,  22 

Genealogy.  Of  Conary  Mor, 
from  Eochy,  164  ;  of  Conor 
mac  Nessa,  from  Ross  the 
Red,  181  ;  of  Cuchulain  and 
Conall  of  the  Victories,  from 
Druid  Cathbad,  181  ;  of  Don, 
350  ;  of  Llyr,  351  ;  of  Arthur, 
352 

Geneir.  Knight  of  Arthur's 
court,  401 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  Bishop 
of  St.  Asaph;  his  "  Historia 
Regum  Britaniae  "  written  to 
commemorate  Arthur's  exploits, 

337 

Geraint.  The  tale  of  Enid  and, 
399.  400 

Gerald,  Earl.  Son  of  goddess 
Aine,  128 

German  (ghermawn — g  hard). 
Diuran  and,  companions  of 
Maeldun  on  his  wonderful 
voyage,  313 

Germanic  Words.  Many  impor- 
tant, traceable  to  Celtic  origin,  32 

Germans.  Menace  to  classical 
civilisation  of,  under  names  of 
Cimbri  and  Teutones,  31  ;  de 
Jubainville's  explanation  re- 
garding, as  a  subject  people, 
31  ;  overthrow  of  Celtic  supre- 
macy by,  33  ;  burial  rites  prac- 
tised by,  33  ;  chastity  of,  41 

Germany.  Place-names  of,  Celtic 
element  in,  27 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Gilla  Dacar  (The  Hard  Gilly). 
Story  of,  292-295 

Gilvaeth'wy.  Son  of  Don ; 
nephew  of  Math,  378  ;  his  love 
for  Goewin,  and  its  sequel, 
378-380 

Giraldus  Cambrensis.  Testi- 
mony to  the  fairness  of  the 
Irish  Celt,  2 1 .     See  Bleheris 

Glen  Etive.  Dwelling-place  of 
Naisi  and  Deirdre,  198 

Gloucester.  Mabon  released 
from  prison  in,  392  ;  the  "  nine 
sorceresses  "  of,  404 

Glower.  The  strong  man  of  the 
Wee  Folk,  246 

Glyn  Cuch.  Pwyll's  hunt  in 
woods  of,  357 

Goban  the  Smith.  Brother  of 
Kian  and  Sawan ;  corresponds 
to  Wayland  Smith  in  Germanic 
legend,  no,  117  ;  Ollav  Fola 
compared  with,  150 

God.  Cythrawl  and,  two  primary 
existences  in  the  Cymric  cosmo- 
gony, standing  for  principles  of 
life  and  destruction,  333-335  ; 
the  ineffable  Name  of,  pro- 
nounced, and  the  "  Manred  " 
formed,  333 

Gods.  Megalithic  People's  con- 
ception of  their,  86,  87  ;  of 
Aryan  Celts,  equated  by  Caesar 
with  Mercury,  Apollo,  Mars, 
&c,  86  ;  triad  of,  JEsus, 
Teutates,  and  Taranus,  men- 
tioned by  Lucan,  86  ;  Lugh, 
or  Lugus,  the  god  of  Light, 
88 

Goewin  (go-ay'win).  Daughter 
of  Pebin  ;  Gilvaethwy's  love 
for,  and  its  sequel,  378-380 

Golasecca.  A  great  settlement 
of  the  Lowland  Celts,  in  Cisal- 
pine Gaul,  56 

Goleuddydd.  Wife  of  Kilydd  ; 
mother  of  Kilhwch,  386,  387 

Goll  mac  Morn  a.  Son  of  Morna, 
captain  of  the  Fianna  of  Erin, 

257  ;    swears  service  to  Finn, 

258  ;  Finn  recalls  the  great 
saying  of,  267  ;  rescues  Finn 
from  the  enchanted  cave,  277, 
278  ;    Keva  of  the  White    Skin 


given  as  wife  to,  278  ;  adventure 
with  the  wether,  291,  292 

Gonemans.  Knight  who  trains 
Perceval  (Peredur),  405 

Gorboduc.  "  Historia  Regum 
Britaniae  "  furnished  subject 
for,  in,  338 

Gor'ias,  The  City  of  (see  Dana), 
105,  106 

Gowra  (Gabhra).  References  to 
Oscar's  death  at,  261-275  ; 
battle  of,  between  Clan  Bascna 
and  Clan  Morna,  305-309  ; 
Oscar's  death  at,  305-308  ; 
King  of  Ireland's  death  at, 
306 

Grail.  Legends  of  the,  400 ;  the 
tale  of  Peredur  and  the,  400  ; 
Chrestien  de  Troyes'  story  of, 
404 ;  identical  with  the  Cup 
of  the  Last  Supper,  406  ; 
Wolfram  von  Eschenbach's 
conception  of  the  story  of 
the,  407  ;  preserved  in  Castle 
of  Munsalvasche,  407 ;  the,  a 
talisman  of  abundance,  409  ; 
false  derivation  of  the  word, 
from  greable,  409;  true  deriva- 
tion, 409,  note;  combinations 
of  Celtic  poetry,  German  mys- 
ticism, Christian  chivalry,  and 
ideas  of  magic  contained  in,  4 1 2 

Grania.  Loved  by  Dermot  of 
the  Love  Spot,  123  ;  elopes 
with  Dermot,  261  ;  tales  of 
Deirdre  and,  compared,  296- 
304  ;  borne  to  Hill  of  Allen 
as  Finn's  bride,  304 

Great  Britain.  Western  ex- 
tremity of,  is  Land  of  the 
Dead,  131 

Greece.  Dolmens  found  in,  53  ; 
oppression  in,  of  the  Firbolgs, 
102, 103 

Greek-s.  Celts  and,  17  ;  wars 
in  alliance  with  Celts,  22  ; 
break  monopoly  of  Cartha- 
ginian trade  with  Britain  and 
Spain,  22  ;  secure  overland 
route  across  France  to  Britain, 
22  ;  type  of  civilisation,  Celtica 
preserved,  22 

Grey  of  Macha.  Cuchulain's 
horse,    ridden    by    Sualtam    to 

439 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


rouse  men  of  Ulster,  221,  222  ; 
resists  being  harnessed  by 
Laeg,  230  ;  mortally  wounded 
by  Ere,  232  ;  defends  Cuchu- 
lain,  233 

Gronw  Pebyr  (gron'oo  payber). 
Loved  by  Blodeuwedd,  383  ; 
slain  by  Llew,  384 

Guairy,  Hugh  (gwai'ry).  Ar- 
rested for  murder,  and  tried 
at  Tara  by  Dermot,  48 

Guary  (gwar'y).  High  King ; 
taunts  Sanchan  Torpest  about 
the  "  Tain,"  234 

Guest,  Lady  Charlotte.  Her 
collections  of  tales,  412  See 
"Mabinogion" 

Gwalchmai.  Nephew  of  King 
Arthur,  397,  401 

Gwawl.  Rival  of  Pwyll's  for 
Rhiannon's  hand,  361,  362 

Gwenhwyvar  (gwen'hoo-ivar). 
Wife  of  King  Arthur,  394 

Gwern.  Son  of  Matholwch  and 
Branwen,  368  ;  assumes  sov- 
ranty  of  Ireland,  370 

Gwion  Bach.  Son  of  Gwreang  ; 
put  to  stir  magic  cauldron  by 
Ceridwen,_  413  ;  similar  action 
to  Finn,  413 

Gwlwlyd  (goo-loo'lid).  The  dun 
oxen  of,  390 

Gwreang  (goo're-ang).  Father 
of  Gwion  Bach,  413 

Gwrnach  (goor-nach).  Giant; 
the  sword  of  the,  390 

GwyddnoGar'anhir.  Horses  of, 
drink  of  poisoned  stream,  hence 
the  stream  "  Poison  of  the 
Horses  of,"  413  ;  his  son 
Elphin  finds  Taliesin,  414 

Gwydion.  Son  of  Don  ;  place  in 
Cymric  mythology  taken  later 
by  the  god  Artaius,  349  ; 
nephew  of  Math,  378  ;  the 
swine  of  Pryderi  and,  378-380 

Gwyn  ap  Nudd.  A  Cymric  deity 
likened  to  Finn  (Gaelic)  and  to 
Odin  (Norse),  349  ;  combat 
every  May-day  between  Gwy- 
thur  ap  Greidawl  and,  353,  388 

Gwynedd.     Math,  lord  of,  378 

Gwynfyd.  Purity ;  the  second 
of  three  concentric  circles  re- 

440 


presenting  the  totality  of  being 
in  the  Cymric  cosmogony, 
in  which  life  is  manifested  as 
a  pure,  rejoicing  force  trium- 
phant over  evil,  334 
Gwythur  ap  Greidawl  (Victor, 
Son  of  Scorcher).  Combat 
every  May-day  between  Gwyn 
ap  Nudd  and,  353,  388 


II 


Hades  (or  Annwn).  The  Magic 
Cauldron  part  of  the  spoils  of, 
410 

Ham'ilcar.  Defeat  of,  at  Himera, 
by  Gelon,  22 

Hamitic,  The.  Preserved  in 
syntax  of  Celtic  languages,  78 

Havgan.  Rival  of  Arawn  ;  mor- 
tally wounded  by  Pwyll,  357, 
358 

Hecat^'us  of  Abdera.  Musical 
services  of  Celts  (probably  of 
Great  Britain)  described  by, 
58 

Hecat^us  of  Miletus.  First 
extant  mention  of  "  Celts  " 
by,  17 

Heilyn.     Son  of  Gwynn,  372 

Heinin.  Bard  at  Arthur's  court, 
416 

Hellan'icus  of  Lesbos.  Celts 
and,  17 

Hero'dotus.     Celts  and,  17,  56 

Hevydd       Hen.  Father       of 

Rhiannon,  360 

High  Kings  of  Ireland.  Stone 
of  Destiny  used  for  crowning 
of,  105 

Hill     of     Aine.  Name     of 

goddess  Aine  clings  to,  128  ; 
Aine  appears,  on  a  St.  John's 
Night,  among  girls  on,  128 

Hill  of  Allen.  Finn's  hounds, 
while  returning  to,  recognise 
Saba,  266 ;  Oisin  returns  to, 
273  ;  Finn  returns  to,  278  ; 
return  of  the  Fianna  to,  to 
celebrate  the  wedding  feast 
of  Finn  and  Tasha,  295  ;  Finn 
bears  Grania  as  his  bride  to, 
304 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Hill  of  Keshcorran.  Finn  be- 
witched by  hags  on,  277 

Hill  of  Macha.  Significance,  251 

"  Historia  Britonum."  See 
Nennius 

Historia  Regum  Britani;e. 
See  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth. 
Furnished  subject  for  **  Gor- 
borduc  "  and  "King  Lear," 
338  ;  wonderful  success  of, 
translated  by  Wace  into  French, 
by  Layamon  into  Anglo-Saxon, 

338-  339 
Homer.     His   gloomy   picture   of 

the    departed      souls    of     men 

conducted   to   the   underworld, 

79,  80  ;    reference  to,  147 
Horses   of   Mananan.       White- 
crested  waves  called,  125 
Hound  of  Ulster.     See   Cuchu- 

lain,    217,     233  ;      element     in 

Gaelic  names,  184 
Hugh.     One   of   the  Children   of 

Lir,  142 
Hungary.     Miled's    name    as    a 

god     in     a     Celtic     inscription 

from,  130 
Hyde,  Dr.  Douglas.     Reference 

to  his  folk -tale  about  Dermot 

of  the  Love  Spot,  291 
Hyperbor'eans.     Equivalent  to 

Celts,  17 


Iberians.  Aquitani  and,  resem- 
blance between,  58,  59 

Ilda'nach  ("The  All -Crafts- 
man"). Surname  conferred 
upon     Lugh,     the     Sun  -god, 

"3 

Illyrians.     Celts  conquer,  22 

Immortality.  Origin  of  so-called 
"  Celtic  "  doctrine  of,  75,  76  ; 
Egyptian  and  "  Celtic  "  ideas 
of,  78-89 

India.  Dolmens  found  in,  53  ; 
symbol  of  the  feet  found  in, 
■j-j  ;  practice  in,  of  allotting 
musical  modes  to  seasons  of 
the  year,  1 18 

Indra.  Hindu  sky-deity  corre- 
sponding to  Brown  Bull  of 
Quelgny,  203 


Ingcel.  One-eyed  chief,  son  of 
King  of  Great  Britain,  an  exile, 
169 

Invasion  Myths,  The,  of  Ire- 
land.    See  Myths 

Inversken'a.  Ancient  name  of 
Kenmore  River,  so  called  after 
Skena,  133 

Ireland.     Unique  historical  posi- 
tion    of,     35  ;      Dermot      mac 
Kerval,     High     King     of,    47  ; 
apostolised     by     St.     Patrick, 
51  ;  Lowland  Celts  founders  of 
lake-dwellings     in,      56;      holy 
wells    in,     66  ;      tumulus    and 
symbolic      carvings      at      New 
Grange    in,    69-72  ;      reference 
to     conversion     of,     to     Chris- 
tianity,   8^  ;     Lugh,    or   Lugus, 
god   of   Light,   in,    88  ;   history 
of,  as  related  by  Tuan,  98-100  ; 
Nemed     takes     possession     of, 
98  ;     Fomorians    establish    ty- 
ranny    over,      101  ;      Standish 
O'Grady's      "  Critical     History 
of,"    reference    to,     119,     120  ; 
displacement    of     Danaans   in, 
by  Milesians,  130  ;   Ith's  coming 
to,    130-136;      name    of    Eriu 
(dative  form  Erinn),  poetic  name 
applied     to,     132  ;      Amergin's 
lay,  sung  on  touching  soil  of, 
134  ;  Milesian  host  invade,  135  ; 
the    Children    of    Miled    enter 
upon   sovranty  of,   but  hence- 
forth  there   are   two    Irelands, 
the  spiritual,   occupied   by  the 
Danaans,   and    the  earthly,   by 
the   Milesians,    136-145  ;     Ere- 
mon,  first  Milesian  king  of  all, 
143,    144  ;    reference   to   Chris- 
tianity and  paganism  in,   145  ; 
Milesian    settlement    of,     148  ; 
Ollav  Fola,  most  distinguished 
Ollav  of,  1 49-1 50  ;   Maon  reigns 
over,    154;     raid    of    Conary's 
foster-brothers    in,     169  ;     The 
Terrible     decides     the     Cham- 
pionship   of,     196 ;      proclaims 
Cuchulain    Champion    of,   196  ; 
Naisi     and     Deirdre     land     in, 
199  ;    Cairbry,  son    of   Cormac 
mac  Art,  High   King  of,   304  ; 
Maeldun  and    his    companions 
441 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


return  to,  330  ;  the  Arthurian 
saga  never  entered,  343  ;  in- 
vaded by  Bran,  369-372 ; 
Matholwch  hands  over  to 
Gwern  the  sovranty  of,  370 

Irish.  Element  of  place-names, 
found  in  France,  Switzerland, 
Austria,  &c,  28  ;  Spenser's 
reference  to  eagerness  of,  to 
receive  news,  37  ;  the  Ulster 
hero,  Cuchulain,  in  saga,  41  ; 
the  tumulus  at  New  Grange 
in,  69  ;  Christianity,  early, 
magical  rites  of  Druidism  sur- 
vive in,  83  ;  legend,  four 
main  divisions  in  cycle  of,  95  ; 
folk -melodies,  the  Coulin,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  of,  119; 
god  of  Love,  Angus  Og  the, 
121  ;  "  Mythological  Cycle," 
de  Jubainville's,  reference  to, 
131  ;  place-names,  significance 
of,  250;  legend,  St.  Patrick 
and,  283;  literature,  effect  of 
Christianity  on,  2Q5    2q6 

Irnan.  Lays  Finn  under  geise 
to  engage  in  single  combat, 
278  ;    slain  by  Goll,  278 

Iron  Age.  The  ship  a  well- 
recognised  form  of  sepulchral 
enclosure  in  cemeteries  of  the, 

76 

Island-s.  Strange  adventures  of 
Maeldun  and  his  companions 
on  wonderful,  312-331  ;  of 
the  Slayer,  313  ;  of  the  Ants, 
313  ;  of  the  Great  Birds,  313  ; 
of  the  Fierce  Beast,  314  ;  of 
the  Giant  Horses,  314  ;  of  the 
Stone  Door,  314  ;  of  the  Apples, 
315  ;  of  the  Wondrous  Beast, 
315  •  of  the  Biting  Horses,  315  ; 
of  the  Fiery  Swine,  316  ;  of  the 
Little  Cat,  316;  of  the  Black 
and  White  Sheep,  317  ;  of  the 
Giant  Cattle,  317  ;  of  the  Mill, 
318  ;  of  the  Black  Mourners, 
318  ;  of  the  Four  Fences,  318; 
of  the  Glass  Bridge,  319  ;  of 
the  Shouting  Birds,  320  ;  of 
the  Anchorite,  320  ;  of  the 
Miraculous  Fountain,  320  ;  of 
the  Smithy,  321  ;  of  the  Sea 
of    Clear    Glass,    321  ;    of   the 

442 


Undersea,  321  ;  of  the  Pro- 
phecy, 322  ;  of  the  Spouting 
Water,  322  ;  of  the  Silvern 
Column,  322  ;  of  the  Pedestal, 
323  ;  of  the  Women,  323,  324  ; 
of  the  Red  Berries,  325  ;  of 
the  Eagle,  325-327  ;  of  the 
Laughing  Folk,  327  ;  of  the 
Flaming  Rampart,  327  ;  of  the 
Monk  of  Tory,  327-329  ;  of 
the  Falcon,  329,  330 

Islands  of  the  Dead.  See 
Mananan,  125 

Isle  of  Man.  Supposed  throne 
of  Mananan,  125 

Italy.  Northern,  Celts  conquer 
from  Etruscans,  21,  25;  Mur- 
gen  and  Eimena  sent  to,  by 
Sanchan  Torpest,  to  discover 
the  "  Tain,"  234,  235 

Ith.  Son  of  Bregon,  grand- 
father of  Miled,  130;  his 
coming  to  Ireland,  130-136; 
shores  of  Ireland  perceived  by, 
from  Tower  of  Bregon,  132  ; 
learns  of  Neit's  slaying,  132  ; 
welcomed  by  mac  Cuill  and  his 
brothers,  133  ;  put  to  death 
by  the  three  Danaan  Kings,  133 

Iubdan  (youb-dan).  King  of  the 
Wee  Folk,  246  ;  Bebo,  wife  of, 
247  ;  Bebo  and,  visit  King 
Fergus  in  Ulster,  247-249 

Iuchar  (you'char).  One  of 
three  sons  of  Turenn,  114  ; 
Brigit,  mother  of,  126 

Iucharba  (you-char'ba).  One  of 
three  sons  of  Turenn,  114  ; 
Brigit,  mother  of,  126 


Japan.     Dolmens  found  in,  53 
Jerome,   St.     Attestation   of,  on 

Celtic  State  of  Galatia,  34 
John,  Mr.  Ivor  B.     His  opinion 

of  Celtic  mystical  writings,  332 
Jones,    Brynmor.     Findings    of, 

on  origin  of  populations  of  Great 

Britain  and  Ireland,  78 
Joyce,  Dr.  P.  W.     Reference  to 

his    "  Old    Celtic    Romances," 

303.  309.  3J2 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


JlJBAINVILLE,     M.     D'ARBOIS     DE. 

Great  Celtic  scholar,  18,  23, 
24  ;  explanation  of,  regarding 
Germans  as  a  subject  people, 
31  ;  record  regarding  Mega- 
lithic  People,  55  ;  reference  of, 
to  Taranus  (?  Trior),  the  god 
of  Lightning,  87  ;  opinion  re- 
garding Dis,  or  Pluto,  as 
representing  darkness,  death, 
and  evil,  88  ;  reference  to 
Gaulish  god  whom  Caesar  iden- 
tifies with  Mercury,  113  ;  Brigit 
identical  with  Dana,  accord- 
ing to,  126;  Ith's  landing  in 
Ireland  described  in  his  "  Irish 
Mythological  Cycle,"  131  ;  his 
translation  of  Amergin's  strange 
lay,  134 

K 

Kai.  King  Arthur's  seneschal,  387, 

388  ;    accompanies  Kilhwch  on 

his  quest  for  Olwen,  388-392  ; 

refuses  Peredur,  401,  402 
Keating.  Reference     to     his 

"History     of     Ireland,"     150; 

his    reference    to    Maon,    153  ; 

"History"    of,    tells    of    Ket's 

death,  244;  "History"  of,  tells 

of  Maev's  death,  245 
Keelta  mac  Ronan.    Summoned 

from  the  dead  by  Mongan,   81  ; 

warrior    and    reciter,     one    of 

Finn's    chief    men,    261  ;      St. 

Patrick    and,    265,    266,    289  ; 

Finn  whispers   the   tale   of  his 

enchantment    to,    280  ;      Oisin 

and,     resolve     to     part,     282  ; 

meets  St.  Patrick,  282  ;    assists 

Oisin  bury  Oscar,  307 
Keevan  of  the  Curling  Locks. 

Lover  of  Cleena,  127 
Keltchar   (kelt'yar).     A  lord  of 

Ulster  ;   mac  Datho's  boar  and, 

243 

Kenmare  River.  In  Co.  Kerry  ; 
ancient  name  "  Inverskena," 
so  called  after  Skena,  133 

Kenverch'yn.  The  three  hun- 
dred ravens  of,  399 

Kerry.  Murna  marries  King  of, 
256 


Kesair  (kes'er).  Gaulish  prin- 
cess, wife  of  King  Ugainy 
the  Great,  1 52  ;  grandmother 
of  Maon,  153 

Ket.  Son  of  Maga ;  rallies  to 
Maev's  foray  against  Ulster, 
204  ;  slings  Conall's  "  brain 
ball  "  at  Conor  mac  Nessa 
which  seven  years  after  leads 
to  his  death,  240,  241  ;  the 
Boar  of  mac  Datho  and,  241- 
244  ;  death  of,  told  in  Keating' s 
"  History  of  Ireland,"  244 

Keva  of  the  White  Skin. 
Daughter  of  Finn,  given  in 
marriage  to  Goll  mac  Morn  a, 
278 

Kian.  Father  of  Lugh,  109  ; 
brother  of  Sawan  and  Goban, 
no  ;    the  end  of,  1 14 

Kicva.  Daughter  of  Gwynn 
Gohoyw,   wife  of  Pryderi,  365, 

373 

Kilhwch  (kil'hugh).  Son  to 
Kilydd  and  Goleuddydd  ;  story 
of  Olwen  and,  386-392  ;  ac- 
companied on  his  quest  (to  find 
Olwen)  by  Kai,  Bedwyr,  Kyn- 
ddelig,  Bedwyr  (Bedivere),  Gwr- 
hyr,  Gwalchmai,  and  Menw, 
388-392 

Killarney,  Lakes  of.  Ancient 
name,  Locha  Lein,  given  to, 
by  Len,  123 

Kilydd.  Husband  of  Goleu- 
ddydd, father  of  Kilhwch,  386, 

387 
Kimbay  (Cimbaoth).  Irish  king  ; 
reign  of,  and  the  founding  of 
Emain  Macha,  1 50  ;  brother 
of  Red  Hugh  and  Dithorba, 
151  ;    compelled  to  wed  Macha, 

ISI  .      „ 

King   Lear.      "  Histona   Regum 

Britaniae  "  furnished  the  sub- 
ject of,  337,  338 

Kingsborough,  Lord.  "  Anti- 
quities of  Mexico,"  example  of 
cup-and-ring  markings  repro- 
duced in  his  book,  68 

Knowledge.  Nuts  of,  256  ;  the 
Salmon  of,  256 

Kym'ideu  Kyme'in-voll.  Wife 
of  Llassar  Llaesgyvnewid,  368 

443 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Kymon.     A    knight    of    Arthur's 

court ;    the  adventure  of,  394- 

399 
Kyn'ddelig.       One    of    Arthur's 

servitors  ;      accompanies     Kil- 

hwch  on  his  quest  for  Olwen, 

388-392 
Kyot  (Guiot).     Provencal  poet ; 

and  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach, 

408 


La  Tene  Culture.  Relics  found 
in  Austria  developed  into,  29 

Labra  the  Mariner  .  See 
Maon,  1 54 

Laeg  (layg).  Cuchulain's  friend 
and  charioteer,  185  ;  sent  bv 
Cuchulain  to  rouse  men  of 
Ulster,  213  ;  visits  Fairyland 
to  report  on  Fand,  226  ;  the 
Grey  of  Macha  resists  being 
harnessed  by,  230  ;  slain  by 
Lewy,  232 

Laery  (lay'ry).  1.  Son  of  King 
Ugainy  the  Great ;  treacherously 
slain  by  his  brother  Covac,  152. 
2.  The  Triumphant;  shrinks 
from  test  for  the  Championship 
of  Ireland,  196  ;  mac  Datho's 
boar  and,  243.  3.  Son  of  Neill ; 
sees  vision  of  Cuchulain,  239 

Lairgnen  (lerg-nen).  Connacht 
chief,  betrothed  to  Deoca  ;  seizes 
the  Children  of  Lir,  142 

Lake  of  the  Cauldron.  Place 
where  Matholwch  met  Llassar 
Llaesgyvnewid  and  his  wife 
Kymideu  Kymeinvoll,  367,  368 

Lake  of  the  Dragon's  Mouth. 
Resort  of  Caer,  121  ;  Angus  Og 
joins  his  love,  Caer,  at,  122 

Land  of  the  Dead.  "  Spain  "  a 
synonymous  term,  130  ;  the 
western  extremity  of  Great 
Britain  is,  according  to  ancient 
writer  cited  by  Plutarch,  and 
also    according    to    Procopius, 

131 

Land  of  the  Living.  =  Land 
of  the  Happy  Dead,  96  ;  gifts 
which  Lugh  brought  from,  113 

Land    of    Shadows.      Dwelling- 

444 


place  of  Skatha  ;   Cuchulain  at, 
187-189 

Land  of  the  Wee  Folk.  See 
Wee  Folk  (otherwise,  Faylinn), 
246,  &c. 

Land  of  Youth.  Identical  with 
"  Land  of  the  Dead,"  "  Land  of 
the  Living,"  q.v.  ;  see  Mananan, 
113,  125  ;  Cleena  once  lived  in, 
127  ;  Connla's  Well  in,  visited 
by  Sinend,  129  ;  still  lives  in 
imagination  of  Irish  peasant, 
1 37  ;  mystic  country  of  People 
of  Dana  after  their  disposses- 
sion by  Children  of  Miled,  156; 
pagan  conception  of,  referred 
to,  161  ;  lover  from,  visits  Mess- 
buachalla,  to  whom  she  bears 
Conary,  166,  167  ;  Oisin  sees 
wonders  of,  272  ;  Oisin  returns 
from,  273  ;  "  The  Lady  of  the 
Fountain  "  and  the,  395,  396 

Layamon.  Translator.  See 
'*  Historia  Regum  Britanise  " 

Legend.    The  cycles  of  Irish,  95 

Leicester.    See  Llyr 

Leinster.  Book  of,  and  de  Ju- 
bainville,  24  ;  ancient  tract, 
the  "  Dinnsenchus,"  preserved 
in,  85  ;  traditional  derivation 
of  name,  1 54  ;  men  of,  rally  to 
Maev's  foray  against  Ulster, 
205  ;  Mesroda,  son  of  Datho, 
dwelt  in  province  of,  241 

Leix.  Reavers  from,  slay  Ailill 
Edge-of -Battle,  310  ;  Maeldun's 
voyage  to,  311-331 

Len.  Goldsmith  of  Bov  the  Red  ; 
gave  ancient  name,  Locha  Lein, 
to  the  Lakes  of  Killarney,  123 

Levar'cam.  Deirdre's  nurse, 
197-200 ;  Conor  questions,  re 
sons  of  Usna,  199 

Lewy.  Son  of  Curoi,  Cuchulain's 
foe,  228-233  ;  slain  by  Conall 
of  the  Victories,  233 

Lia  (lee'a).  Lord  of  Luachar, 
treasurer  to  the  Clan  Morna, 
255  ;  slain  by  Finn,  256  ;  father 
of  Conan,  258 

Lia  Fail  (lee'a  fawl),  The.  The 
Stone  of  Destiny,  121 

Liagan  (lee'a-gan).  A  pirate, 
slain  by  Conan  mac  Morna,  260 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Light-of-Beauty.  See  Sgeimh 
Solais 

Lm  (leer),  i.  Sea-god,  father  of 
Mananan,  113,  139;  Mananan 
and,  referred  to,  125  ;  iden- 
tical with  the  Greek  Oceanus, 
125  ;  father  of  Lodan  and 
grandparent  of  Sinend,  129  ; 
Cymric  deity  Llyr  corresponds 
with,  347.  2.  The  Children 
of,  the  transformation  of,  139- 
142  ;   their  death,  142 

Lismore.  "  The  Dean  of  Lis- 
more's  Book,"  by  James  Mac- 
gregor,  Dean  of,  described, 
288 

LlassarLlaesgyv'newid.  Hus- 
band of  Kymideu  Kymeinvoll, 
giver  of  magic  cauldron  to  Bran, 
368 

Llevelys.  Son  of  Beli  ;  story  of 
Ludd  (Nudd)  and,  385,  386 

Llew  Llaw  Gyffes.  Otherwise 
"The  Lion  of  the  Sure  Hand." 
A  hero  the  subject  of  the  tale 
"  Math  Son  of  Mathonwy," 
347,  348  ;  identical  with  the 
Gaelic  deity  Lugh  of  the  Long 
Arm,  347,  348  ;  how  he  got 
his  name,  381,  382  ;  the  flower- 
wife  of,  named  Blodeuwedd, 
382,  383  ;  slays  Gronw  Pebyr, 
who  had  betrayed  him,  383,  384 

Lludd.    See  Nudd 

Llwyd.  Son  of  Kilcoed,  an 
enchanter  ;  removes  magic  spell 
from  seven  Cantrevs  of  Dyfed, 
and  from  Pryderi  and  Rhian- 
non,  377 

Llyr.  In  Welsh  legend,  father  of 
Manawyddan ;  Irish  equiva- 
lents, Lir  and  Mananan,  347  ; 
Llyr-cester  (now  Leicester)  once 
a  centre  of  the  worship  of,  347  ; 
house  of,  corresponds  with 
Gaelic  Lir,  348,  349  ;  Penar- 
dun,  daughter  of  Don,  wife  of, 
349  ;    genealogy  set  forth,  351 

Loch.  Son  of  Mofebis,  champion 
sent  by  Maev  against  Cuchu- 
lain,  212  ;  wounds  Cuchulain, 
but  is  slain  by  him,  212 

Loch  Gara.  Lake  in  Roscommon ; 
mac  Cecht's  visit  to,  176 


Loch  Rury.  Fergus  mac  Leda's 
adventure  in,  249 

Loch  Ryve.  Maev  retires  to 
island  on,  and  is  slain  there  by 
Forbay,  245 

Lodan.  Son  of  Lir,  father  of 
goddess  Sinend,  129 

Loherangrain.  Knight  of  the 
Swan,  son  of  Parzival,  408 

Loughcrew.  Great  tumulus  at, 
supposed  burying  -  place  of 
Ollav  Fola,  1  50 

Lourdes.  Cult  of  waters  of, 
66,  67 

Luc  an.  Triad  of  deities  men- 
tioned by,  86 

Luchad  (loo-chad).  Father  of 
Luchta,  112 

Luchta  (looch-ta).  Son  of  Lu- 
chad, 112;  the  carpenter  of  the 
Danaans,  117 

Ludgate.  For  derivation  see 
Nudd 

Lugh  (loo),  or  Lugus.  i.  See 
Apollo,  58;  the  god  of  Light, 
in  Gaul  and  Ireland,  as,  88 ; 
2.  Son  of  Kian,  the  Sun-god 
par  excellence  of  all  Celtica, 
the  coming  of,  109-113  ;  other 
names,  Ildanach  ("The  All- 
Craftsman  ")  and  Lugh  Lam- 
fada  (Lugh  of  the  Long  Arm), 
113,  123;  his  eric  from  sons 
of  Turenn  for  murder  of  his 
father,  Kian,  115-116;  slays 
Balor  and  is  enthroned  in  his 
stead,  117  ;  fiery  spear  of,  121  ; 
his  worship  widely  spread  over 
Continental  Celtica,  123  ;  father, 
by  Dectera,  of  Cuchulain,  123, 
182  ;  Cymric  deity  Llew  Llaw 
Gyffes  corresponds  with,  347, 
348 

Lugh  of  the  Long  Arm.  See 
Lugh.  Invincible  sword  of, 
105,  106;  Bres,  son  of  Balor, 
and,  123  ;  husband  of  Dectera 
and  father  of  Cuchulain,  182  ; 
appears  to  Cuchulain  and  pro- 
tects the  Ford  while  his  son 
rests,  214;  fights  by  his  son's 
side,  215;  Cymric  hero  Llew 
Llaw  Gyffes  corresponds  with, 
347.  348 

445 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Luned.  Maiden  who  rescued 
Owain,  397  ;  Owain  rescues 
her,  398,  399 


M 


"  Mabinog'ion,"  The  (singular, 
Mabinogi).  Reference  to  story 
of  Kilhwch  and  Olwen  in,  343  ; 
"  The  Red  Book  of  Hergest," 
the  main  source  of  the  tales  of, 
344  ;  "  Math  Son  of  Mathonwy," 
tale  in,  347  ;  Mr.  Alfred  Nutt's 
edition,  356;  Four  Branches 
of  the  Mabinogi  form  most  im- 
portant part  of,  384  ;  Peredur's 
story  in,  and  French  version, 
406 ;  the  tale  of  Taliesin  and, 
412 

Mabon.  Son  of  Modron,  released 
by  Arthur,  391,  392 

MacCecht.  Danaan  king,  hus- 
band of  Fohla,  1 32  ;  member  of 
Conary's  retinue  at  Da  Derga's 
Hostel,  175  ;  his  search  for 
water,  175,  176 

MacCuill  (quill).  Danaan  king, 
husband  of  Banba,  132  ;  at 
fortress  of  Aileach,  132 

MacGrene.  Danaan  king,  hus- 
band of  Eriu,  132  ;  mythical 
name  Son  of  the  Sun,  132 

Mac  Indoc',  The  Plain  of.  Laery 
and  St.  Benen  on,  239 

MacKerval,  Dermot.  Rule  of, 
in  Ireland,  and  the  cursing  of 
Tara,  47,  48.     See  Dermot 

Macpherson.  Pseudo  -  Ossian 
poetry  of,  288 

Mac  Roth.  Maev's  steward, 
named,  and  the  Brown  Bull  of 
Quelgny,  202  ;  sent  to  view 
host  of  Ulster  men,  223 

Macedon.  Attacked  by  Thracian 
and  Illyrian  hordes,  23 

Macha.  Daughter  of  Red  Hugh, 
1 5 1  ;  slays  Dithorba  and  com- 
pels Kimbay  to  wed  her,  151; 
captures  five  sons  of  Dithorba, 
151,  152;  forms  an  instance 
of  the  intermingling  of  the 
attributes  of  the  Danaan  with 
the  human  race,  152;   a  super- 

446 


natural  being,  178  ;  goes  to 
dwell  with  Crundchu,  178  ;  her 
race  against  Ultonian  horses, 
179  ;  gives  birth  to  twins  and 
curses  the  Ultonians,  180  ;  her 
curse  on  men  of  Ulster,   203- 

221  ;  the  curse  removed  from 
men  of  Ulster,  222 

Maeldun.  Son  of  Ailill  Edge-of- 
Battle,  310 ;  departs  to  his 
own  kindred,  311  ;  sets  out 
on  his  wonderful  voyage,  311- 

331 

Maeldun,  Voyage  of  (mayl'- 
doon).  Found  in  MS.  entitled 
"  Book  of  the  Dun  Cow,"  309  ; 
reference  to  Dr.  Whitley  Stokes' 
translation  in  the  "  Revue 
Celtique,"  309 ;  theme  of  Tenny- 
son's "Voyage  of  Maeldune  " 
furnished  by  Joyce's  version  in 
"  Old  Celtic  Romances,"  309  ; 
narrative  of,  311-331 

Maen  Tyriawc  (ma'en  tyr'i- 
awc).     Burial-place  of  Pryderi, 

379 
Maev  (mayv).  Queen  of  Con- 
nacht,  122  ;  Angus  Og  seeks 
aid  of,  122  ;  debility  of  Ulto- 
nians manifested  on  occasion 
of  Cattle-raid  of  Quelgny,  180  ; 
Fergus  seeks  aid  of,  202  ;  her 
famous  bull  Finnbenach,  202  ; 
her  efforts  to  secure  the  Brown 
Bull  of  Quelgny,  204-246 ; 
host  of,  spreads  devastation 
through  the  territories  of  Bregia 
and  Murthemney,  209  ;  offers 
her  daughter  Findabair  of  Fair 
Eyebrows  to  Ferdia  if  he  will 
meet  Cuchulain,  216;  Conor 
summons  men  of  Ulster  against, 

222  ;  overtaken  but  spared 
by  Cuchulain,  225  ;  makes 
seven  years'  peace  with  Ulster, 
225  ;  vengeance  of,  against 
Cuchulain,  228-233;  mac  Datho's 
hound  and,  241-244  ;  retires 
to  island  on  Loch  Ryve,  245  ; 
slain  by  Forbay,  245 

Maga.  Daughter  of  Angus  Og, 
wife  of  Ross  the  Red,  181  ; 
wedded  also  to  Druid  Cathbad, 
181 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Magi.  Word  magic  derived  from, 
60  ;    treated  by  Pliny,  61 

Magic.  The  religion  of  Megalithic 
People  that  of,  59  ;  origin  of 
word,  60  ;  Pliny  on,  61  ;  reli- 
gion of,  invented  in  Persia  and 
by  Zoroaster,  61  ;  traces  of,  in 
Megalithic  monuments,  63  ; 
Clan  Calatin  learn,  in  Ireland, 
Alba,  and  Babylon,  to  prac- 
tise against  Cuchulain,  228- 
233 

Maitre,  M.  Albert.  Inspector 
of  Musee  des  Antiquites  Na- 
tionales,  64 

Malory.  Anticipated  by  Wace, 
338,  339  •  Cymric  myths  and, 
388 

Man'anan.  Son  of  the  Sea-god, 
Lir,  113,  139  ;  magical  Boat  of, 
brought  by  Lugh,  with  Horse 
of,  and  sword  Fragarach,  from 
the  Land  of  the  Living,  113,121; 
attributes  of  Sea-god  mostly 
conferred  on,  125  ;  the  most 
popular  deity  in  Irish  mytho- 
logy, 125  ;  lord  of  sea  beyond 
which  Land  of  Youth  or  Islands 
of  the  Dead  were  supposed  to 
lie,  125  ;  master  of  tricks  and 
illusions,  owned  magical  posses- 
sions— boat,  Ocean-Sweeper  ; 
steed,  Aonbarr  ;  sword,  The 
Answerer,  &c.  &c,  125  ;  refe- 
rence to  daughter  of,  given  to 
Angus,  a  Danaan  prince,  143  ; 
his  wife,  Fand,  sets  her  love  on 
Cuchulain,  226 ;  Fand  recovered 
by,  227  ;  shakes  his  cloak 
between  Fand  and  Cuchulain, 
228 ;  Cymric  deity  Manawyd- 
dan  corresponds  with,  347,  348 

Manawyddan  (mana-wudh'en). 
In  Welsh  mythology,  son  of 
Llyr ;  Irish  equivalents,  Mana- 
nan  and  Lir,  347  ;  Bendigeid 
Vran  ("  Bran  the  Blessed  "), 
his  brother,  365  ;  the  tale  of 
Pryderi  and,  373-378  ;  weds 
Rhiannon,  373 

Mane-er-H'oeck.  Remarkable 
tumulus  in  Brittany,  63,  64 

Manes.  Seven  outlawed  sons  of 
Ailell    and    Maev,    169 ;     their 


rally  to  Maev's  foray  against 
Ulster,  204 

Manessier.  A  continuator  of 
Chrestien  de  Troyes,  408 

Man'etho.  Egyptian  historian, 
reference  to  human  sacrifices, 
85,  86 

Man  red.  The  ineffable  Name 
of  God  pronounced,  and  so  was 
formed,  333  ;  the  primal  sub- 
stance of  the  universe,  333 

Maon  (may'un).  Son  of  Ailill  ; 
brutal  treatment  of,  by  Covac, 
152-154  ;  has  revenge  on  Ailill 
by  slaying  him  and  all  his 
nobles,  153  ;  weds  Moriath,  and 
reigns  over  Ireland,  154  ;  equi- 
valent,  "  Labra  the  Mariner," 

154 

Marcellin'us,  Ammian'us.  Gauls 
described  by,  42 

Marie     de     France.  Anglo- 

Norman  poetess ;  sources  relat- 
ing to  the  Arthurian  saga  in 
writings  of,  339,  340 

Math  Son  of  Mathonwy. 
Title  of  tale  in  the  "  Mabino- 
gion,"  347  ;  Llew  Llaw  Gyffes, 
a  character  in  tale  of,  347,  348  ; 
brother  of  Penardun,  349  ;  the 
tale  of,  378-384  ;  Gwydion  and 
Gilvaethwy,  nephews  of,  378 ; 
his  strange  gift  of  hearing,  386 

Matholwch  (math'o-law).  King 
of  Ireland  ;  comes  seeking 
Branwen's  hand  in  marriage, 
366  ;  wedding  of,  and  Bran- 
wen's,  celebrated  at  Aberffraw, 
366 ;  Evnissyen  mutilates  his 
horses,  367  ;  Bran,  among  other 
gifts,  gives  a  magic  cauldron  to, 
367,  368  ;  father  of  Gwern, 
368  ;  informed  of  Bran's  inva- 
sion, 369  ;  hands  sovranty  of 
Ireland  to  Gwern,  370 

Mathonwy.  Ancestor  of  House  of 
Don,  349 

Matiicre  de  France.  Source  of 
Round  Table  and  chivalric 
institutions  ascribed  to  Arthur's 
court,  341 

Maxen  Wledig  (oo'le-dig).  Em- 
peror of  Rome  ;  the  dream  of, 
384,  385 

447 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


May-day.  Sacred  to  Beltene, 
day  on  which  Sons  of  Miled 
began  conquest  of  Ireland,  133, 
1 34  ;  combat  every,  between 
Gwythur  ap  Greidawl  and  Gwyn 
ap  Nudd,  353  ;  strange  scream 
heard  in  Britain  on  eve  of,  385 

Meath.  Fergus  in  his  battle-fury 
strikes  off  the  tops  of  the  three 
Maela  of,  224  ;  St.  Patrick  and 
the  folk  of,  282 

Medicine.  See  Magic,  60,  61  ; 
Pliny  and,  61 

Megalithic  People.  Builders  of 
dolmens,  cromlechs,  &c,  52- 
93  ;  origin  of  the,  54-58  ;  Pro- 
fessor Ridgeway's  contention 
about,  56 ;  their  religion  that 
of  magic,  59  ;  representations  of 
the  divine  powers  under  human 
aspect  unknown  to,  75  ;  Druid- 
ism  imposed  on  the  Celts  by  the, 
82  ;  human  sacrifices,  practice 
a  survival  from  the,  84  ;  con- 
ception of,  regarding  their 
deities,  86 

Mercury.  Regarded  as  chief  of 
the  gods  by  Gauls,  87  ;  Lugh 
Lamfada  identified  with,  113 

Merlin.  See  Myrddin.  Refer- 
ence to  his  magical  arts,  337  ; 
equivalent  Myrddin,  354  ;  be- 
lieved by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth 
to  have  erected  Stonehenge, 
354  ;  the  abode  of,  described, 
354-356 

Mesged'ra.  The  vengeance  of, 
fulfilled,  241 

Mesro'da,  mac  Datho.  Son  of 
Datho,  241  ;  the  carving  of 
the  boar  of,  241-244  ;  Conor 
and  Maev  both  send  to  pur- 
chase his  hound,  241 

Messbuachalla  (mess-boo'hala). 
Only  daughter  of  Etain  Oig, 
166  ;  significance,  "  the  cow- 
herd's foster-child,"  166  ;  King 
Eterskel's  promised  son  and, 
1 66 ;  visited  by  a  Danaan 
lover,  and  birth  of  Conary,  1 66, 
167 

Mexico.  Cup-and-ring  marking 
in,  68  ;  symbol  of  the  feet 
found  in,  jj  ;    the  cross-legged 

448 


"Buddha,"  frequent  occurrence 
in  religious  art  of,  87 

Midir  the  Proud  (mid'eer).  A 
son  of  the  Dagda  ;  a  type  of 
splendour,  124  ;  his  appearance 
to  King  Eochy,  124  ;  Fuam- 
nach,  wife  of,  156;  Etain, 
second  bride  of,  156;  recovers 
his  wife  from  Eochy,  160-163  ; 
yields  up  Etain,  163 

Miled.  i.  Sons  of;  conquer  the 
People  of  Dana,  100  ;  the 
coming  of,  to  displace  rule  in 
Ireland  of  Danaans,  130  ;  Bre- 
gon,  son  of,  130  ;  Amergin,  son 
of,  133  ;  begin  conquest  of 
Ireland  on  May-day,  133,  134. 
2.  A  god,  represented  as,  in 
a  Celtic  inscription  from  Hun- 
gary, son  of  Bile,  130.  3.  Chil- 
dren of ;  resolve  to  take  ven- 
geance for  Ith's  slaying,  133; 
enter  upon  the  sovranty  of  Ire- 
land, 136 

Milesian-s.  See  Sons  of  Miled, 
130;  myth,  meaning  of,  138- 
145  ;    the  early  kings,  146-148 

Minorca.  Analogous  structures 
(to  represent  ships)  to  those  in 
Ireland  found  in,  76 

Mochaen  (mo-chayn').  Hill  of, 
and  Lugh's  eric,  115 

Modred.  King  Arthur's  nephew  ; 
usurps  his  uncle's  crown  and 
weds  his  wife  Guanhumara, 
337  ;   Arthur  defeats  and  slays, 

337.  338 

Mongan.  Irish  chieftain,  rein- 
carnation of  Finn  ;  wager  as  to 
place  of  death  of  King  Fothad, 
81 

Montel'ius,  Dr.  Oscar.  And 
the  ship  symbol,  72 

Moonre'mur.  A  lord  of  Ulster  ; 
mac  Datho's  boar  and,  243 

Morann.  Druid  ;  prophecy  of, 
concerning  Cuchulain,  183 

Morc.   Fomorian  king,  101 

Morda.  A  blind  man,  set  by 
Ceridwen  to  keep  fire  under 
the  magic  cauldron,  413 

Mor'iath.  Daughter  of  Scoriath, 
the  King  of  Feramore  ;  her 
love  for  Maon  and  her  device 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


to  win  him  back  to  Ireland,  153, 
1 54  ;  curious  tale  regarding 
his  hair,  154 

Morna.  Father  of  Goll,  257 

Morr'igan,  The.  Extraordinary 
goddess,  embodying  all  that 
is  perverse  and  horrible  among 
supernatural  powers,  126;  her 
love  and  friendship  for  Cuchu- 
lain,  126;  her  visit  to  Conary 
Mor  at  Hostel  of  Da  Derga, 
172  ;  appears  to  Cuchulain  and 
offers  her  love,  212  ;  her  threat 
to  be  about  his  feet  in  bottom 
of  *  the"4  Ford,  212;  attacks 
Cuchulain,  and  is  wounded  by 
him,  213  ;  croaks  of  war  and 
slaughter  before  Cuchulain,  230  ; 
settles  on  the  dead  Cuchulain's 
shoulder  as  a  crow,  233 

Mountains  of  Mournb.  Cuchu- 
lain on,  193 

Moyrath.  Battle  of ,  ended  resist- 
ance of  Celtic  chiefs  to  Chris- 
tianity, 51 

Moyslaught  ("  The  Plain  of 
Adoration").  Idol  of  Crom 
Cruach  erected  on,  85,  149 

Moytura,  Plain  of.  i.  Scene  of 
First  Battle  (Co.  Sligo)  between 
Danaans  and  the  Firbolgs,  106, 
107.  2.  Scene  of  Second  Battle 
(Co.  Mayo)  between  Danaans 
and  Fomorians,  117,  130  ;  the 
Dagda  and,  120 

Munsalvasche  (Montsalvat), 
The  Castle  of,  where,  in  W. 
von  Eschenbach's  poem,  the 
Grail  is  preserved,  407 

Munster.  Ailill  Olum,  King  of, 
127  ;  "  Hill  of  Aine  "  and 
goddess  Aine,  128  ;  origin  of 
name,  1 54 

Mur'ias,  The  City  of  (see  Dana), 
105,  106 

Murna  of  the  White  Neck. 
Wife  of  Cumhal,  mother  of 
Finn,  255,  266  ;  takes  refuge 
in  forests  of  Slieve  Bloom,  and 
gives  birth  to  Demna  (Finn), 
255;  marries  King  of  Kerry, 
256 

Murtagh  mac  Erc.  King  of  Ire- 
land,   brother    of    Fergus    the 


Great;  lends  famous  Stone  of 
Scone  to  Scotland,  105 

Murthem'ney.  Kian  killed  on 
Plain  of,  114;  Cuchulain  of, 
seen  in  a  vision  by  prophetess 
Fedelma,  206  ;  the  carnage  of, 
214;  host  of  Ulster  assemble 
on,  229  ;  Cuchulain  at  his  dun 
in,  230 

Mycen'^:.  Burial  chamber  of  the 
Atreidae,  ancient  dolmen  yet 
stands  beside,  in,  53 

Myrddin.  See  Merlin.  A  deity 
in  Arthur's  mythological  cycle, 
corresponds  with  Sun  -  god 
Nudd,  354  ;  suggestion  of 
Professor  Rhys  that  chief  deity 
worshipped  at  Stonehenge  was, 
355;  seizes  the  "Thirteen 
Treasures  of  Britain,"  355 

Mythological  Cycle,  The,  95,  96 

Mythology.  Comparison  between 
Gaelic  and  Cymric,  346-348 ; 
compared  with  folklore,  418 

Myths.  Danaan,  meaning  of,  137  ; 
Milesian,  meaning  of,  138,  139; 
Invasion,  of  Ireland,  138-145 


N 


Naisi  (nay'see).  Son  of  Usna, 
loved  by  Deirdre,  198  ;  abducts 
Deirdre,  198  ;  Ardan  and  Ainle, 
his  brothers,  198  ;  Conor  invites 
return  of,  198  ;  his  return  under 
care  of  Fergus,  199  ;  slain  by 
Owen  son  of  Duracht,  201 

Naqada  (nak'a-da).  Signs  on 
ivory  tablets  discovered  by 
Flinders  Petrie  in  cemetery  at, 
78 

Narberth.  Castle  where  Pwyll 
had  his  court,  359  ;  Pwyll's 
adventure  on  the  Mound  of 
Arberth,  near,  359-365  ;  Pry- 
deri  and  Manawyddan  and 
their  wives  left  desolate  at 
palace  of,  373 

Natchrantal  (na-chran '  tal). 
Famous  champion  of  Maev ; 
assists  to  capture  Brown  Bull, 
211 


449 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Nechtan.  Dun  of  the  sons  of, 
193  ;  Cuchulain  provokes  a 
fight  with  sons  of,  193,  194 ; 
sons  of,  slain,  194 

Neit  (nayt).  Danaan  king,  slain 
in  battle  with  the  Fomorians, 
132 

Nemed.  Son  of  Agnoman  ;  takes 
possession  of  Ireland,  98  ;  fights 
victoriously  against  Fomorians, 
his  death,  101 

Nemedians.  Sail  for  Ireland,  99  ; 
akin  to  the  Partholanians,  101  ; 
revolt  of,  against  Fomorians, 
101, 102  ;  routed  by  Fomorians, 
102 

Nemglan.  Commands  Conary  go 
to  Tara,  168  ;  he  declares 
Conary's  geise,  168 

Nennius.  British  historian  in 
whose  "  Historia  Britonum " 
(a.d.  800)  is  found  first  mention 
of  Arthur,  336 

Nessa.  Daughter  of  Echid 
Yellow-heel,  wife  of  Fachtna, 
mother  of  Conor,  180  ;  loved 
by  Fergus,  180 

Netherlands.  Place-names  of, 
Celtic  element  in,  27 

New  Grange.  Tumulus  at,  re- 
garded as  dwelling-place  of 
Fairy  Folk,  69,  70  ;  symbolic 
carvings  at,  70,  71  ;  the  ship 
symbol  at,  71-73  ;  Angus  Og's 
palace  at,  121  ;  Angus'  fairy 
palace  at  Brugh  na  Boyna  iden- 
tical with,  143 

Niam  (nee'am).  1.  Wife  of 
Conall  of  the  Victories ;  tends 
Cuchulain,  229  ;  Bave  puts  a 
spell  of  straying  on  her,  230. 
2.  Of  the  Golden  Hair ;  daughter 
of  the  King  of  the  Land  of 
Youth,  270  ;  Oisin  departs 
with,  271,  272  ;  permits  Oisin 
to  visit  the  Land  of  Erin,  273 

Niss'yen.  Son  of  Eurosswyd  and 
Penardun,  366 

Nodens.     See  Nudd 

NUADA      OF     THE     SILVER      HAND 

(noo'ada).  King  of  the  Da- 
naans,  107-108  ;  his  encoun- 
ter with  Balor,  champion  of 
the  Fomorians,  117;  belongs 
450 


to  Finn's  ancestry,  255  ;  iden- 
tical with  solar  deity  in  Cymric 
mythology,  viz.,  Nudd  or  Lludd, 
346,  347 

Nudd,  or  Lludd.  Roman  equi- 
valent, Nodens.  A  solar  deity 
in  Cymric  mythology,  346,  347  ; 
identical  with  Danaan  deity, 
Nuada  of  the  Silver  Hand, 
347  ;  under  name  Lludd,  said 
to  have  had  a  temple  on  the 
site  of  St.  Paul's,  347  ;  en- 
trance to  Lludd's  temple  called 
Parth  Lludd  (British),  which 
Saxons  translated  Ludes  Geat 
— our  present  Ludgate,  347  ; 
story  of  Llevelys  and,  385, 
386  ;  Edeyrn,  son  of,  jousts 
with  Geraint  for  Enid,  399,  400 

Nuts  of  Knowledge.  Drop 
from  hazel-boughs  into  pool 
where  Salmon  of  Knowledge 
lived,  256 

Nutt,  Mr.  Alfred.  Reference 
to,  in  connexion  with  the  "  Hill 
of  Aine,"  128,  129  ;  reference 
to,  in  connexion  with  Oisin-and- 
Patrick  dialogues,  288,  289  ; 
reference  to  object  of  the  tale 
of  Taliesin  in  his  edition  of  the 
"  Mabinogion,"  412 

Nynniaw.  Peibaw  and,  brothers, 
two  Kings  of  Britain,  their 
quarrel  over  the  stars,  355,  356 


O'Donovan.  A  great  Irish  anti- 
quary ;  folk -tale  discovered  by, 
1 09-1 19 

O'Dyna,  Cantred  of.  Dermot's 
patrimony,  300 

O' Grady,  i.  Standish.  Refer- 
ences to  his  "  Critical  History 
of  Ireland"  on  the  founding  of 
Emain  Macha,  119,  120,  151 
152  ;  his  "  Masque  of  Finn  "  re- 
ferred to,  280,  281.  2.  Standish 
Hayes.  Reference  to  his  "  Silva 
Gadelica,"  250,  276,  281 

Ocean  -  sweeper.  Mananan's 
magical  boat,  125 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Odyssby,  The.  Mr.  H.  B.  Cot- 
terill's  hexameter  version,  quota- 
tion from,  79,  80 

Ogma.  Warrior  of  Nuada  of  the 
Silver  Hand,  112,  118 

OisIn       (ush'een).  Otherwise 

Little  Fawn.  Son  of  Finn, 
greatest  poet  of  the  Gael,  261  ; 
father  of  Oscar,  261  ;  buries 
Aideen,  261  ;  birth  of,  from 
Saba,  266-270  ;  loved  by  Niam 
of  the  Golden  Hair,  270-272  ; 
returns  from  Land  of  Youth, 
273  ;  Keelta  and,  resolve  to 
part,  282  ;  assists  Keelta  bury 
Oscar,  307 

Old  Celtic  Romances.  Refer- 
ence to  Dr.  P.  W.  Joyce's, 
303,  309.  312 

Ollav.  Definition  of  the  term, 
149 

Ollav  Fola.  Eighteenth  King 
of  Ireland  from  Eremon,  the 
most  distinguished  Ollav  of 
Ireland,  149-150  ;  compared 
with  Goban  the  Smith  and 
Amergin  the  Poet,  150 

Olwen.  The  story  of  Kilhwch 
and,  386-392  ;  daughter  of 
Yspaddaden,  387  ;  how  she 
got  the  name  "  She  of  the 
White  Track,"  390  ;  bride  of 
Kilhwch,  392 

Orlam.    Slain  by  Cuchulain,  209 

Oscar.  Son  of  Oisin;  slays  Linne, 
261  ;  Aideen,  wife  of,  261  ;  her 
death  after  battle  of  Gowra,  261 ; 
type  of  hard  strength,  262  ;  refer- 
ence to  death  at  battle  of  Gowra, 
275  ;  his  death  described,  306, 
308 

Osi'ris.  Feet  of,  symbol  of 
visitation,  in  Egypt,  yj 

Ossianic  Society.  "  Transac- 
tions "  of,  278-280  ;  battle  of 
Gowra   (Gabhra)   described   in, 

305 

Os'thanes.  Earliest  writer  on 
subject  of  magic,  62 

Other-World.  Keelta  sum- 
moned from,  81  ;  faith  of, 
held  by  Celts,  82  ;  Mercury 
regarded  by  Gauls  as  guide 
of  dead  to,  87 


Owain.      Son    of    Urien;     plays 

chess  with  King  Arthur,   393  ; 

the    Black    Knight    and,    396- 

399  ;   seen  by  Peredur,  401 
Owel.      Foster-son   of   Mananan 

and  a  Druid,  father  of  Aine,  127 
Owen.     Son    of   Duracht ;    slays 

Naisi  and  other  sons  of  Usna, 

201 
Owens  of  Aran.     Ailill,  of  the 

sept  of,  3 1 1  ;    Maeldun  goes  to 

dwell  with,  31 1 
Owl    ofuCwm    Cawlwyd  (coom 

cawl'wud),  The,  392 


Patrick,  St.  Ireland  apostolised 
by.  51  ;   symbol  of  the  feet  and, 

77  . 

Parth'olan.      His   coming   into 

Ireland    from    the    West ;     his 

origin,  96 
Partholanians.    Battle  between 

the   Fomorians   and,   97  ;     end 

of  race  by  plague  on  the  Old 

Plain,    97  ;     Nemedians    akin 

to,  101 
Peibaw.        Nynniaw    and,    two 

brothers,    Kings     of     Britain  ; 

their    quarrel    over    the    stars, 

355.  356 

Penar'dun.  Daughter  of  Don, 
wife  of  Llyr,  and  also  of  Euross- 
wyd,  sister  of  Math,  349,  366  ; 
mother  of  Bran,  also  of  Niss- 
yen  and  Evnissyen,  366 

People  of  the  Sidhe  (shee). 
Danaans  dwindle  into  fairies, 
otherwise  the,  137 

Per'diccas  II.  Son  of  Amyntas 
II.,  killed  in  battle,  23 

Per'edur.  The  tale  of,  and  the 
origin  of  the  Grail  legend,  400, 
407  ;  corresponds  to  Perceval 
of  Chrestien  de  Troyes,  400 

Per'gamos.  Black  Stone  of,  sub- 
ject of  embassy  from  Rome 
during  Second  Punic  War,  66 

Perilous  Glen.  Cuchulain 
escapes  beasts  of,  187 

Persia.  Religion  of  magic  in- 
vented in,  by  Zoroaster,  61 

45* 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Petrie,  Flinders.  Discoveries 
by.  78  ;  on  Egyptian  origin  of 
symbol  of  mother  and  child,  79 

Philip.  Younger  brother  of 
Perdiccas,  23 

Philo'stratus.  Reference  of,  to 
enamelling  by  Britons,  30 

Plain  of  Ill-luck.  Cuchulain 
crosses,  187 

Plato.  Celts  and,  17  ;  evidence 
of,  to  Celtic  characteristics,  36 

Pliny.  Religion  of  magic  dis- 
cussed by,  61 

Plutarch.  Land  of  the  Dead 
referred  to  by,  as  the  western 
extremity  of  Great  Britain,  131 

Pluto  (Gk.  Pluton).  Dis,  equi- 
valent ;  god  of  the  Underworld, 
88;  associated  with  wealth,  like 
Celtic  gods  of  the  Underworld, 

349 

Polvb'ius.  Description  of  the 
Gaesati  in  battle  of  Clastidium,  4 1 

Polynesian,  the  practice,  named 
"  tabu  "  and  the  Irish  geis, 
similarity  between,  165 

Portugal.  Place-names  of,  Celtic 
element  in,  27 

Posidon'ius.  On  bardic  institu- 
tion among  Celts,  57 

Procop'ius.  Land  of  the  Dead 
referred  to  by,  as  the  western 
extremity  of  Great  Britain,  1 3 1 

Province  of  the  Spearmen 
(Irish,  Laighin — "  Ly-in  ").  See 
Leinster,  154 

Pryderi  (pri-dair'y)  (Trouble). 
Son  of  Pwyll  and  Rhiannon ; 
his  loss,  363  ;  his  restoration 
by  Teirnyon,  365  ;  Kicva, 
the  wife  of,  365  ;  the  tale  of 
Manawyddan  and,  373-378  ; 
Gwydion  and  the  swine  of,  378  ; 
his  death,  379 

Pwyll  (poo-till ;  modern  Powell). 
Prince  of  Dyfed  ;  how  he  got 
his  title  Pen  Annwn,  or  "  Head 
of  Hades,"  356-359  ;  his  ad- 
venture on  the  Mound  of 
Arberth,  near  the  Castle  of 
Narberth,  359-365  ;  fixes  his 
choice   on   Rhiannon   for   wife, 

360  ;     Gwawl's   trick    on    him, 

361  ;    Rhiannon's  plan  to  save 
452 


Pwyll    from    Gwawl's    power, 

361  ;      weds     Rhiannon,     362  ; 

imposes  a  penance  on  his  wife, 

363  ;    his  son  Pryderi  (Trouble) 

found,  365 
Pythag'oras.        Celtic    idea    of 

transmigration  and,  80 
Pyth'eas.        The   German   tribes 

about  300  b.c.   mentioned    by, 

31 


Q 


Quelgny,  or  Cuailgne.  Cattle- 
raid  of,  made  by  Queen  Maev, 
180  ;  Brown  Bull  of,  owned 
by  Dara,  202  ;  the  theme  of 
the  "  Tain  Bo  Cuailgne "  is 
the  Brown  Bull  of,  203  ;  Brown 
Bull  of,  is  Celtic  counterpart 
of  Hindu  sky-deity,  Indra, 
203  ;  Brown  Bull  of,  captured 
at  Slievegallion,  Co.  Armagh, 
by  Maev,  2 1 1  ;  white-horned 
Bull  of  Ailell  slain  by  Brown 
Bull  of,  225  ;  reputed  author 
of,  Fergus  mac  Roy,  234 ; 
Sanchan  Torpest  searches  for 
lost  lay  of,  234-238 


R 


Ra.  Egyptian  Sun-god ;  ship 
symbol  in  sepulchral  art  of 
Egypt  connected  with  worship 
of,  74-76 

Rath  Grania.  King  Cormac  and 
Finn  feasted  at,  300 

Rath  Luachar.  Lia  keeps  the 
Treasure  Bag  at,  255 

Rathcroghan.  Maev's  palace  in 
Roscommon,  202 

Red  Branch.  Order  of  chivalry 
which  had  its  seat  in  Emain 
Macha,  178  ;  the  time  of  glory 
of,  during  Conor's  reign,  181  ; 
heroes  of,  and  Cuchulain  strive 
for  the  Championship  of  Ire- 
land, 195,  196  ;  Hostel,  Naisi 
and  Deirdre  at,  199,  200  ; 
with  Cuchulain  and  Conor 
passes  away  the  glory  of,  241 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Red  Hugh.  Ulster  prince,  father 
of  Macha,  brother  of  Dithorba 
and  Kimbay,  151 

Red  Riders.  Conary's  journey 
with,  170,  171 

Religion.  The  Celtic,  46 ; 
Megalithic  People's,  that  of 
Magic,  58  ;  of  Magic,  invented 
in  Persia  and  by  Zoroaster,  61 

Revue  Celtique.  Dr.  Whitley 
Stokes'  translation  of  the 
"  Voyage  of  Maeldun  "  in,  309 

Rhiannon  (ree'an-non).  Daugh- 
ter of  Hevydd  Hen  ;  sets  her 
love  on  Pwyll,  360  ;  marries 
Pwyll,  362 ;  her  ipenance  for 
slaying  her  son,  363  ;  her  son 
Pryderi  (Trouble)  found,  365  ; 
wedded  to  Manawyddan,  373 

Rhonabwy  (rone'a-bwee).  The 
dream  of,  392,  393 

Rhun.  Sent  from  King  Arthur's 
court  to  Elphin's  wife,  415 

Rhys  ap  Tewdwr.  South  Welsh 
prince ;  brought  knowledge  of 
Round' Table  to  Wales,  343 

Rhys,  Sir  J.  His  views  on  origin 
of  population  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  78  ;  on  Myrddin 
and  Merlin,  354,  355 

Ridge  of  the  Dead  Woman. 
Vivionn  buried  at,  287,  288 

Roc.  Angus'  steward,  290; 
his  son  crushed  to  death  by 
Donn,  291  ;  then  changed  into 
a  boar  and  charged  to  bring 
Dermot  to  death  at  length,  291 

Romance.  Gaelic  and  Con- 
tinental, 345 

Romans.  Arthur  resists  demand 
for  tribute  by  the,  337 

Rome.  Celts  march  on  and  sack, 
25,26;  Britain  and  Gaul  under 
yoke  of,  35  ;  the  empire  of 
Maxen  Wledig  in,  usurped,  385 

Ross  the  Red.  King  of  Ulster, 
husband  of  Maga,  a  daughter 
of  Angus  Og,  181  ;  Roy,  his 
second  wife,  181  ;  originator 
of  the  Red  Branch,  181 

Round  Table,  The.    References 

to,  338,  339.  34i.  343 
Roy.      Second  wife  of  Ross  the 
Red, 181 


Ru'adan,  St.  Tara  cursed  by,  47 

49 
Russell,  Mr.  G.  W.     Irish  poet; 
fine     treatment     of     myth     of 
Sinend  and  Connla's  Well,  129 
130 


Saba.  Wife  of  Finn,  mother  of 
Oisin,  266-270 

Sacrifices.  Practice  of  human, 
noted  by  Caesar  among  Celts, 
84  ;  human,  in  Ireland,  85  ; 
Celtic  practice  of  human, 
paralleled  in  Mexico  and  Car- 
thage, 85  ;  of  children,  to  idol 
Crom  Cruach,  by  Gaels,  85  ; 
in  Egypt,  practice  of  human, 
rare,  85,  86 

St.  Benen.  A  companion  of  St. 
Patrick,  239 

St.     Finnen.  Irish      abbot ; 

legend  concerning  Tuan  mac 
Carell  and,  97 

St.  Patrick.  Record  of  his 
mission  to  Ireland,  51  ;  Cas- 
corach  and,  referred  to  in 
the  "  Colloquy  of  the  Ancients," 
119;  Brogan,  the  scribe  of, 
119;  Ethne  aged  fifteen  hun- 
dred years  old  at  coming  of, 
144  ;  Ethne  baptized  by, 
144  ;  summons  Cuchulain  from 
Hell,  238,  239  ;  name  Talkenn 
given  by  Irish  to,  275  ;  met 
by  Keelta,  282  ;  Irish  legend 
and, 283 

Salmon  of  Knowledge.  See 
Fintan 

Salmon  of  Llyn  Llyw  (lin 
li-oo'),  The,  392 

Samnite  War,  Third.  Coincident 
with  breaking  up  of  Celtic 
Empire,  26 

Sanchan  Torpest.  Chief  bard 
of  Ireland;  and  the  "Tain," 
234-238 

Sa'wan.  Brother  of  Kian  and 
Goban,  no 

Scandinavia.  Dolmens  found  in, 
53  ;    symbol  of  the  feet  found 

in.  77 
Sem'ion.     Son  of  Stariat,  settle- 


453 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


ment  in   Ireland   of  ;     Firbolgs 
descended  from,  ioo 

Sera.  Father  of  Partholan,  96  ; 
father  of  Starn,  98 

Setan'ta.  Earliest  name  of 
Cuchulain,  183;  "the  little 
pupil,"  harries  Maev's  hosts, 
208 

Sgeimh  Solais  (skayv  sulish) 
(Light  of  Beauty).  Daughter 
of  Cairbry,  wooed  by  son  of 
King  of  the  Decies,  304 

Shannon,  The  River.  Myth  of 
Sinend  and  the  Well  of  Know- 
ledge accounts  for  name  of, 
129  ;  Dithorba's  five  sons  flee 
over,  151  ;  mac  Cecht  visits, 
175  ;  Dermot  and  Grania  cross 
Ford  of  Luan  on  the,  299 

Ship  Symbol,  The,  71-76 

Sic'ulus,  Diodorus.  A  contem- 
porary of  Julius  Caesar ;  de- 
scribes Gauls,  41,  42 

Sidhe  (shee),  or  Fairy  Folk. 
Tumulus  at  New  Grange  (Ire- 
land) regarded  as  dwelling- 
place  of,  69 

Silva  Gadelica.  Reference  to 
Mr.  S.  H.  O'Grady's  work,  250, 
276, 281 

Sin'end.  Goddess,  daughter  of 
Lir's  son,  Lodan  ;  her  fatal 
visit  to  Connla's  Well,  129 

Sion,  Llewellyn.  Welsh  bard, 
compiler  of  "  Barddas,"  332 

Skatha.  A  mighty  woman- 
warrior  of  Land  of  Shadows, 
187  ;  instructs  Cuchulain,  187- 
189  ;  her  two  special  feats, 
how  to  leap  the  Bridge  of 
the  Leaps  and  to  use  the 
Gae  Bolg,  188 

Skena.  Wife  of  the  poet  Amergin  ; 
her  untimely  death,  133 

Slayney,  The  River.  Visited  by 
mac  Cecht,  175 

Slieve  Bloom.  Murna  takes 
refuge  in  forests  of,  and  there 
Demna  (Finn)  is  born,  255 

Slieve  Fuad  (sleeve  foo'ad) 
(afterwards  Slievegallion).  In- 
visible dwelling  of  Lir  on, 
125;  Cuchulain  finds  his  foe  on, 
232;   Finn  slays  goblin  at,  258 

454 


Slievegall'ion.  A  fairy  moun- 
tain; the  Chase  of,  278-280. 
See  Slieve  Fuad 

Slievenamon  (sleeve-na-mon'). 
The  Brugh  of,  Finn  and  Keelta 
hunt  on,  284-286 

Sohrab  and  Rustum.  Reference 
to,  192 

Spain.  Celts  conquer  from  the 
Carthaginians,  21  ;  Cartha- 
ginian trade  with,  broken  down 
by  Greeks,  22  ;  place-names  of 
Celtic  element  in,  27  ;  dolmens 
found  round  the  Mediterranean 
coast  of,  53  ;  equivalent,  Land 
of  the  Dead,  102 

Squire,  Mr.  Author  of  "  Mythol. 
of  Brit.  Islands,"  348,  353,  411 

Sreng.  Ambassador  sent  to 
People  of  Dana  by  Firbolgs, 
106 

Stag  of  Redynvre  (red-in'vry), 
The,  392 

Starn.  Son  of  Sera,  brother  of 
Partholan,  97 

Stokes,  Dr.  Whitley.  Reference 
to,  166,  167  ;  reference  to  his 
translation  of  the  "  Voyage  of 
Maeldiin  "  in  "  Revue  Celtique," 

309 

Stone,  Coronation.  At  West- 
minster Abbey,  identical  with 
Stone  of  Scone,  105 

Stone  of  Abundance.  Equiva- 
lent, Cauldron  of  Abundance. 
The  Grail  in  Wolfram's  poem  as 
a,  409 ;  similar  stone  appears 
in  the  Welsh  "  Peredur,"  409  ; 
correspondences,  the  Celtic  Caul- 
dron of  the  Dagda,  410  ;  in 
the  Welsh  legend  Bran  obtained 
the  Cauldron,  410  ;  in  a  poem 
by  Taliesin  the  Cauldron  forms 
part  of  the  spoils  of  Hades, 
410 

Stone  of  Destiny.  Otherwise 
Lia  Fail.  One  of  the  treasures 
of  the  Danaans,  105 

Stone  of  Scone.  Fabulous  origin 
of,  and  present  depository,  105 

St  one-worship.  Supposed  reason 
of,  65,  66  ;  denounced  by 
Synod  of  Aries,  66  ;  denounced 
by    Charlemagne      66  ;     black 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


stone  of  Pergamos  and  Second 
Punic  War,  66 ;  the  Grail  a 
relic  of  ancient,  409 

Stonehenge.  Dressed  stones 
used  in  megalithic  monument 
at,  54  ;  Professor  Rhys'  sugges- 
tion that  Myrddin  was  wor- 
shipped at,  354  ;  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth  and,  354 

Strabo.  Characteristics  of  Celts, 
told  by,  39,  46 

Straits  of  Moyle  (between 
Ireland  and  Scotland).  Aoife's 
cruelty  to  her  step-children  on 
the,  140 

Strand  of  the  Footprints. 
How  name  derived,  191 

Sualtam  (soo'al-tam).  Father  of 
Cuchulain  (see  Lugh),  206  ; 
his  attempts  to  arouse  Ulster, 
221  ;    his  death,  222 

Sweden.  The  ship  symbol  on 
rock-sculptures  of,  72,  73 

Switzerland.  Place-names  of, 
Celtic  element  in,  27  ;  lake- 
dwellings  in,  56 


"Tain  Bo  Cuailgne  "  (thawn  bo 
quel'gny).  Significance,  203  ; 
tale  of,  all  written  out  by 
Finn  mac  Gorman,  Bishop  of 
Kildare,  in  n  50,  225;  the 
recovery  of,  234  ;  reputed 
author,  Fergus  mac  Roy,  234  ; 
Sir  S .  Ferguson  treats  of  recovery 
of,  in  "  Lays  of  the  Western 
Gael,"  234;  Sanchan  Torpest, 
taunted  by  High  King  Guary, 
resolves  to  find  the  lost,  234- 
236  ;  early  Celtic  MSS. and,  296 

Taliesin  (tal-i-es'in).  A  mythi- 
cal bard  ;  his  prophecy  re- 
garding the  devotion  of  the 
Cymry  to  their  tongue,  385  ; 
the  tale  of,  412-417  ;  found 
by  Elphin,  son  of  Gwyddno, 
414  ;  made  prime  bard  of 
Britain,  41  5-417 

Talkenn.  (Adze-head).  Name 
given  by  the  Irish  to  St. 
Patrick,  275 


Taltiu,  or  Telta.  Daughter  of 
the  King  of  the  "  Great  Plain  " 
(the  Land  of  the  Dead),  wedded 
by  Eochy  mac  Ere,  103 

Tara.  Seat  of  the  High  Kings 
of  Ireland  ;  the  cursing  of, 
47,  48-49 ;  Stone  of  Scone 
sent  to  Scotland  from,  105  ; 
Lugh  accuses  sons  of  Turenn 
at,  of  his  father's  murder, 
115;  appearance  of  Midir  the 
Proud  to  Eochy  on  Hill  of, 
124,  161  ;  Milesian  host  at, 
135  ;  institution  of  triennial 
Festival  at,  149-150  ;  bull- 
feast  at,  to  decide  by  divination 
who  should  be  king  in  Eter- 
skel's  stead,  167,  168  ;  Conary 
commanded  to  go  to,  by 
Nemglan,  168  ;  proclaimed 
King  of  Erin  at,  168  ;  pointed 
out  to  Cuchulain,  193  ;  Cuchu- 
lain's  head  and  hand  buried 
at,  233  ;    Finn  at,  257,  258 

Tar'anus  (?  Thor).  Deity  men- 
tioned by  Lucan,  86,  87 

Tegid  Voel.  A  man  of  Penllyn, 
husband  of  Ceridwen,  father  of 
Avagddu,  413 

Teirnyon  (ter'ny-on).  A  man 
of  Gwent  Is  Coed  ;  finds 
Pryderi,  364;  restores  Pryderi, 

365 

Telltown  (Teltin).  Palace  at,  of 
Telta,  Eochy  mac  Erc's  wife, 
103  ;  great  battle  at,  between 
Danaans  and  Milesians,  136; 
Conall  of  the  Victories  makes 
his  way  to,  after  Conary's 
death,  176  ;  pointed  out  to 
Cuchulain,  193 

Tennyson,  Lord.  Reference  to 
source  of  his  "  Voyage  of 
Maeldune,"  309  ;  Cymric  myths 
and,  388  ;  reference  to  his 
"  Enid,"  400 

Teutat'es.  Deity  mentioned  by 
Lucan,  86 

Teutonic.  Loyalty  of  races,  45,46 

Tezcatlipoca.  Sun-god ;  festival 
of,  in  Mexico,  -jj 

The  Terrible.  A  demon  who 
by  strange  test  decides  the 
Championship  of  Ireland,  196 

455 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


Thomas  of  Brittany.  See 
Bleheris 

Tiberius,  Emperor.  Druids, 
prophets,  and  medicine-men 
suppressed  by,  62 

Tierna  (Teer'na).  Abbot  of 
Clonmacnois,  eleventh-century 
historian,  1  50 

Tiernmas  (teern'mas).  Fifth 
Irish  king  who  succeeded  Ere- 
mon,  148  ;  idol  Crom  Cruach 
and,  148,  149  ;   his  death,  149 

Tonn  Cliodhna  (thown  cleena). 
Otherwise  "  Wave  of  Cleena." 
One  of  the  most  notable  land- 
marks of  Ireland,  127 

Tor  Mor.  Precipitous  headland 
in  Tory  Island  ;  Ethlinn  im- 
prisoned by  Balor  in  tower 
built  on,  no 

Tory  Island.  Stronghold  of 
Fomorian  power,  101  ;  invaded 
by  Nemedians,  101 

Tradaban',  The  Well  of.  Keel- 
ta's  praises  of,  282,  283 

Transmigration.  The  doctrine 
of,  allegation  that  Celtic  idea 
of  immortality  embodied  Orien- 
tal conception  of,  80  ;  doctrine 
of,  not  held  by  Celts  in  same 
way  as  by  Pythagoras  and  the 
Orientals,  81  ;  Welsh  Taliessin 
who  became  an  eagle,  100.  See 
Tuan  mac  Carell 

Trendorn.         Conor's     servant, 

199  ;     spies    on    Deirdre,    200  ; 
is  blinded  in  one  eye  by  Naisi, 

200  ;    declares  Deirdre's  beauty 
to  Conor,  200 

Treon  (tray'on).  Father  of 
Vivionn,  287 

Tristan  and  Iseult.  Tale  of 
Dermot  and  Grania  paralleled 
in  story  as  told  by  Heinrich 
von  Freiberg,  299 

Troyes.     See  Chrestien  de  Troyes 

Tuan  mac  Carell.  The  legend 
of,  recorded  in  MS.  "  Book 
of  the  Dun  Cow,"  97  ;  king 
of  all  deer  in  Ireland,  99  ;  name 
of  "gods"  given  to  the  People 
of  Dana  by,  104 

Tuatha  de  Danann  (thoo'a- 
haw    day    danawn').        Literal 

456 


meaning,  "  the  folk  of  the 
god  whose  mother  is  Dana," 
103 

Tumuli.    See  Dolmens,  53 

Turenn.  The  quest  of  the  Sons 
of,  1 1 3-1 16  ;  reference  to  Lugh 
in  the  quest  of  the  Sons  of,  123 

Twrch  Trwyth  (toorch  troo'- 
with).  A  king  in  shape  of  a 
monstrous  boar,  391 

Tyler.  Reference  of,  in  his 
"  Primitive  Culture,"  to  festi- 
val of  Sun-god,  Tezcatlipoca,  "jj 

Tylwyth  Teg.  Welsh  fairies ; 
Gwyn  ap  Nudd,   King  of  the, 

353 
Tyren.      Sister  to  Murna,   266  ; 
Ullan,  husband  of,  266  ;  changed 
by  a  woman  of  the  Fairy  Folk 
into  a  hound,  266 


U 


Ugainy  the  Great  (oo'gany). 
Ruler  of  Ireland,  &c,  husband 
of  Kesair,  father  of  Laery  and 
Co  vac,  152 

Ulster.  Kingdom  of,  founded 
in  reign  of  Kimbay,  1 50  ;  Di- 
thorba's  five  sons  expelled  from, 
151  ;  Dectera's  gift  of  Cuchu- 
lain  to,  182  ;  Conor,  King  of, 
180,  190,  191  ;  Felim,  son  of 
Dall,  a  lord  of,  196  ;  Maev's 
war  against  province  of,  to 
secure  Brown  Bull  of  Quelgny, 
202-251  ;  under  the  Debility 
curse,  205  ;  passes  of,  guarded 
by  Cuchulain  of  Murthemney, 
206 ;  aroused  by  Sualtam, 
221,  222  ;  Macha's  curse  lifted 
from  men  of,  222  ;  Ailell  and 
Maev  make  a  seven  years' 
peace  with,  225  ;  curse  of 
Macha  again  on  the  men  of, 
229  ;  Wee  Folk  swarm  into, 
248,  249 

Ultonian-s.  Great  fair  of, 
visited  by  Crundchu,  178  ; 
his  boast  of  Macha's  swift- 
ness, 179 ;  the  debility  of, 
caused  by  Macha's  curse,  179, 
180  ;    the  debility  of,  descends 


GLOSSARY  AND  INDEX 


on  Ulster,  205  ;  Cycle,  events 
of,  supposed  to  have  happened 
about  time  of  Christ,  252 

Underworld.  The  cult  of, 
found  existing  by  Celts  when 
they  got  to  Western  Europe, 
82  ;  Dis,  or  Pluto,  god  of, 
88  ;  Math,  god  of,  349  ;  identical 
with  Land  of  the  Dead,  130 

Usna.  Father  of  Naisi,  198  ; 
sons  of,  inquired  for  by  Conor, 

J99 
Uther    Pendragon.       Father  of 

Arthur,  337 


Valley      of      the      Thrushes. 

Oisin's  spell  broken  in,  274 
Veil  of  Illusion,  The.   Thrown 

over  Caradawc  by  Caswallan, 

372 
Vercingetorix.        Celtic    chief ; 

his  defeat  by  Caesar,  his  death, 

40 

Vergil.  Evidence  of  Celtic 
ancestry  in  name,  21.  See 
Feryllt,  413 

Vitra.  The  God  of  Evil  in  Ve- 
dantic  mythology,  related  to 
Cenchos,  the  Footless,  97 

Vivionn  (Bebhionn).  A  young 
giantess,  daughter  of  Treon, 
from  the  Land  of  Maidens, 
287  ;  slain  by  .lEda,  and  buried 
in  the  place  called  the  Ridge 
of  the  Dead,  288 

Voyage  of  Maeldun.  See 
Maeldun 

W 

Wace.     Author  of  "  Li  Romans 

de  Brut,"  338 
Wales.         Arthurian     saga     in, 

343,  344  ;    prophecy  of  Taliesin 

about,  385 
Wave  of    Cleena.       See    Tonn 

Cliodhna 


Wee  Folk,  The.  Fergus  mac 
Leda  and,  246-249  ;  Iubdan, 
King  of,  246 

Well  of  Kesair.  Mac  Cecht 
visits,  175 

Well  of  Knowledge.  Equiva- 
lent, Connla's  Well.  Sinend's 
fatal  visit  to,  129 

Welsh  Fairies.  See  Tylwyth 
Teg 

Welsh  Literature.  The  Arthur 
in  the  Arthurian  saga  wholly 
different  from  the  Arthur  in, 
336  ;  compared  with  Irish, 
344  ;   tales  of  Arthur  in,  386 

Welsh  MS.  Society.  Llewellyn 
Sion's  "  Barddas  "  edited  by 
J.    A.    Williams   ap    Ithel   for, 

332 
Welsh  Romance.    The  character 

of,  395,  396 

Weston,  Miss  Jessie  L.  Refer- 
ence to  her  article  in  the 
"  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  " 
on  the  Arthurian  saga,  341 

William  the  Conqueror.  Re- 
ference to,  in  connexion  with 
Arthurian  saga,  343 


Yellow  Book  of  Lecan.  Tale 
of  Cuchulain  and  Connla  in, 
192 

Youth.  The  maiden  who  gave 
the  Love  Spot  to  Dermot,  292 

Yspaddaden  Penkawr  (is-pa- 
dhad'en).  Father  of  Olwen, 
387  ;  the  tasks  he  set  Kilhwch, 
390-392  ;  slain  by  Goreu  son 
of  Custennin,  392 


Zimmer,  Dr.  Heinrich.  On  the 
source  of  the  Arthurian  saga,  343 

Zoroaster.  Religion  of  magic 
invented  by,  61 


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